Best Friends Don't Last Forever
by NorwayInALittleHat
Summary: Dick and Wally have been best friends for a VERY long time. But now, Wally is dating Artemis and Dick is beginning to realize feelings for Wally he never knew before. Can he get his speedster back? Or will he have to sit back and watch as he is slowly stolen away, and how will he explain this all to Bats? Rated T for language, violence, and romancey stuff. BirdFlash.
1. Depressions

**My first Young Justice fanfic, it's going to be pretty long, so hold on for a wild ride! **

**(oh and of course I do NOT own any of the characters~)**

It would have been one of his proudest moments ever. Robin had saved the entire League, he beat Batman and Superman, both things he never thought he could do. He dreamed of them of course, but never thought such a thing could happen so soon. But it had. And he was ecstatic that was until he heard Wally's voice behind him.

"I should have done this a long time ago." He heard. Robin flipped around and gapped when he saw Wally scoop Artemis into his toned arms and press his lips ravenously against hers. She smiled into the kiss and draped her arms around his neck.

Robin felt his heart drop down into the pit of his stomach. Even when Zatanna had spun him around and pecked him he still felt like the entire world was falling down around him.

He felt Zatanna pull away then and then felt her blue eyes burrowing deeply into his skull. He looked back at her and gave her a small heart-broken smile.

"R-Robin…?" She asked noting his suddenly blotchy complexion. Robin silently thanked his covered eyes, otherwise she would have seen the tears that weld around his eyes. "Are you alright?" She demanded worriedly,

"Yeah…" Robin nodded at her, "I'm just…I need to go home. I think I pulled something…" He choked out the lie and gently pushed past her, nodding at her in a silent thanks for her concern. Zatanna watched after him, biting her lip and clutching her hands to her chest wondering what had sudden befallen her comrade.

Dick laid in bed with his hands over his face. He felt like he should just roll over and die. Maybe he should just flip over and suffocate himself…or just hold his breath until he died…a nice leap from the top of the Wayne Manor would do the trick too…

The Boy Wonder almost laughed at his own thoughts. Why was he so depressed? Sure, him and Wally had been best friends for years and he'd always been possessive, needing to either be with or talking with Wally constantly… But that was because Wally was his best and sometimes only friend…wasn't it?

Well now Wally would ignore him. Throw him in the dirt and abandon him for his new horrible girlfriend.

"What am I thinking?" The young acrobat groaned, rolling onto his stomach. He wiped at his eyes once he finally noticed the salty tears staining his cheeks. "Those two _hate _each other, they wont last a week…will they?" Dick hiccupped abruptly as a fresh stream of salty tears threatened to break through his eyes; he rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes and laid back staring blankly at the ceiling, just as he'd done so a loud pound erupted from the other side of the door.

"Dick, are you still awake?" He heard Bruce's booming voice demand.

"Yeah…" He coughed and sat up.

"Can I come in?" It was strange for Bruce to give him so much time to pull himself together before he opened the door, normally he would have knocked once then let himself in.

"Yeah." Dick nodded although his guardian couldn't see him through the thick wood door. Finally the concerned look of Bruce appeared in the doorway.

"Are you alright?" Bruce almost instantly demanded once he caught sight of Dick's disheveled and blotched appearance.

"Why?" Dick questioned pulling his knees up to his chest,

"Alfred said he heard crying…are you alright?"

"Just peachy." Dick grumbled, Bruce sighed and shut the door behind him. The Dark Knight made his way to Dick's desk and spun the chair to face his apprentice, no, Bruce wasn't Batman and Dick wasn't Robin now…he faced his _son_ before sitting.

"What happened?" He asked, it wasn't often when the two had son-and-fatherly conversations, so neither of the two had any idea how to come across something of this sort.

"Nothing…it's just, it's so stupid! …I don't even know why I'm so…" He shook his head, not sure what he was attempting to say,

"Distraught?" Bruce offered,

"Yeah, t…totally not traught…" Dick grumbled, "but since we saved everyone

and all that I just…can't…be happy I guess." Bruce raised an eyebrow carefully, this event had happened nearly four days ago, and Dick was right, Bruce hadn't seen the boy as much as crack a smile since that had happened.

"Did something happen?" Bruce demanded, "You handled yourself well, you took control of the situation with hardly any adult assistance you got the Watch Tower back and saved ninety percent of the League. Sounds like a success to me."

"It's not that. Once that happened, I was so happy. Then I guess it was New Years and …Wally…" Dick broke off before he could begin to choke up once again.

"Wallace?" Bruce demanded, "What did he do?" He prodded ready to strangle the red head if he did anything to hurt Dick.

"I don't even know. I mean it was midnight and he …he…kissed Artemis…and I just… got so mad and I …left." Dick ran a hand through this short eyebrow length black hair.

"Were you … jealous?" Bruce asked awkwardly, shifting his position and leaning into his open palm. "I mean…do you _like _Artemis?" Bruce asked

"Me? Jealous? Of Wally and Artemis? No way…. Besides…I don't like Artemis. She's a good team mate, yeah, but it's just…she's not my type" Dick almost snapped back, "It's just…I can't think about having toshare_ him_. I guess." Bruce nodded slightly,

"I see." Bruce rubbed his eyebrow, he honestly didn't know what to say, he simply pursed his lips and leaned forward to pat Dick's shoulder. "You're afraid of loosing your best friend to Artemis?" He asked

"See, like I said. It's stupid." The Boy Wonder moaned

"It's…not stupid." Bruce said as he stood. "Not stupid at all." With that he left Dick to his thoughts. The 13 year-old simply watched the door slide shut after his adopted father left.

**The first two chapters will be kinda short then they get really long.**

**REVIEW! It makes me happy and makes my day and makes me update faster! **


	2. Disagreements

**Okay, the last short chapter! **

**I know Dick is a bit OOC in this chapter, but it's kind of like the one random snap he gets, so let him have it. **

How long had it been since Artemis and Wally had started dating?

Dick had lost count of the days but he was sure they were coming up on their quarter year anniversary soon, seeing as Artemis was finding ways to put the words "quarter" and "anniversary" in nearly every conversation her and Wally had.

For Wally's survival, Dick prayed he would catch on. But for his own purposes (as a very lonely friend) he wanted him to forget and for that cause some horrible chain reaction causing the two to break up.

But this didn't look like it was going to happen.

For once, Dick and Wally were sitting all alone in the living room of Mount Justice and Wally look utterly distraught.

"What am I gonna do Rob?" He demanded suddenly rubbing a hand over his eyes. Dick simply shrugged and pushed back into the extremely fluffy couch,

"About?" He prodded when Wally just moaned and rolled over on the couch so his head was on Dick's lap. Dick's heart skipped a beat at the contact and his face automatically turned a bright shade of pink.

"Artemis!" Wally wailed again. Dick knew almost automatically what he was talking about, but he could still hope that for some random reason Wally felt the sudden urge to break up with her.

"What about her?" Dick questioned further, "Did she do something wrong?"

"Dude, no! Like three…or four month anniversary or three month or something is coming up! She's been all like 'you better _remember_ the milk' and '_remember _you owe me a _quarter' _and shit like that!" Dick raised and eyebrow,

"What does _that _have to do with anything?" He demanded,

"I don't even know man! But apparently she's been dropping hints about some anniversary that I had NO IDEA ABOUT!" The red head began flailing around on Dick's lap. Dick grabbed Wally's face and forced him to look up at him. Bad move. Dick's face grew even warmer at the sight of Wally's disgruntled look.

"Dude, come on, seriously? _I _even got that she was dropping hints." Wally groaned and puffed out his cheeks. Dick removed his fingers from the red-heads cheeks and let the taller boy continue to flail.

"I'm not good at _reading _her I guess." He grumbled irritably then after a painfully long silence he glanced up at Dick, "Rob…help?" He asked, Dick frowned, he _hated _having to help him with his girlfriend troubles. Dick was supposed to be Wally's…friend, not Artemis!

"Take her out to dinner or something!" Dick said quickly, _There you go Dick, just quick like a band-aid then stop talking about Artemis. _He thought to himself. "Buy her chocolates!" Wally rubbed his hand across his face, "Now, what do you want for din-"

"She's not that _simple!"_ Wally moaned, "She has to be all complicated!"

"Get her arrows or something! I don't know!" Dick was beginning to get angry, it was one of the very few times he got to spend with Wally and they were stuck talking about the very person that had pulled them apart and who Dick had found himself loathing over the past view months.

"But! But! She'll expect that!" The speedster was getting frantic. "Come on Rob! Use that big ol' brain of yours and help me out with Arte!" Dick glowered down at him.

"I don't know!" He snapped, "I hardly _ever _talk to her! How am I supposed to know what she likes?" Wally rolled over to burry his face into Dick's knees,

"Maybe you should go talk to her or something…figure it out." He suggested.

"Why would I do that?" Dick questioned crossly,

"I don't know, you wanna do a bro a favor?!" Wally attempted his arms flailing forward in and exasperated attempt to get sympathy,

"I don't even _li-_" Dick began, but quickly fought back the urge to scream to Wally that he _despised _his girlfriend, even if he didn't know why he _hated _her, nothing personal of course, she had a wonderful sarcastic personality…it was more the fact that she had stolen Wally away from him."I hate having to do dirty work like that." Dick muttered and reached up to flick at the tip of Wally's ear.

"Please! Come on! For me?~" The older boy pleaded rolling over and looking up into Dick's shielded eyes,

"No. I don't want to ask your freaking girlfriend what she wants and I have no idea what to get her, so why don't you just get off your lazy ass and find something yourself?" Dick, honestly, had no idea where the sudden outburst had come from. Perhaps it had been a mix of adrenaline and anger that sparked it, or just the fact that Wally was infuriating when he spoke about Artemis…and didn't shut up about the damned pony-tailed witch.

"Hey man, chill I just wanted an outside opinion!" Dick reared up, nearly throwing Wally from his lap,

"Is that all I am to you now? An outside opinion on what will make _Artemis _happy?! Well screw that!" Dick snarled, when Wally didn't say anything in response Dick slide back against the couch with his hands over his eyes, "I'm sick and tired of _never _seeing you Wally! Ever! All you've done for the past, what three months, was sit there and be Artemis' little lap dog and I'm _sick _of it! I _miss you_ Wally! I miss spending more then two minutes with you without talking about Artemis! I miss just being able to sit there and play video games! To just go to get lunch together and to have you steal all my food!" Dick was nearly out of steam when Wally sat up and wrapped him in a tight hug and brought him practically onto his lap before whispering into his ear,

"Rob, dude, I'm sorry. I promise I'll spend more time with you, kay? I know, I've been kind of distracted, but I promise you just call me and you can get all the Rob-Wally time you need, alright bro? Oh and umm…no homo" He chuckled and he pulled away from the Dick with a sheepish grin. Dick smiled and held up his fist for Wally to pound.

"No homo," He attempted to laugh. Although, there was a sudden ping in his chest almost crying for Wally to hug him again, to be able to be pulled back into those tones arms, back against that warm chest and just lie there and listen to his heartbeat. But he knew he couldn't, so he simply sat back against the couch and let Wally stand up and dash over the fridge.

Dick smiled regardless of his sudden outburst and rubbed at his temples. "Are you ever _not _eating, dude?" He smiled up at his friend who was already stuffing his face with a few dozen chips.

**THANK YOU! **

**Thank you for everyone who reviewed (and I promise regardless of how it sounds, I will NOT make Artemis a totally bitch) **

**And yes, there WILL be language in here, not excessive amounts, just when need be. **

**REVIEW! They make writing so much faster and makes me 10x more careful in my edits! **

**Review and I'll love you forever! **

**And I DO take requests for filler chapters, since this will be kind of a long story I'll take them if they go along with the story~**


	3. Dreams

**Alright, a much longer chapter this time! There's a lot covered in this one, so enjoy~ **

He felt another punch land against his chest, causing him to fly backwards and skid against the rocky ground. He had no idea who he was fighting, or how the hell he even got here, all he knew is that his team mates were surrounding a large dust cloud that seemed to be encasing their opponent.. Robin felt arms wind around him and stop him from skidding against the rocky ground. He looked up seeing Kid Flash's smiling face.

"Watch it there birdy." His best friend chuckled lightly giving him a slight wink. Robin felt a warm blush move across his face as the familiar sound rumbled through Kid Flash's chest.

"Wait-wait Wally where are you going?" Robin demanded as he was pulled further and further away from the scene. "What are you doing?" He snapped, "They still need our help!"

"We're going on a little ride." Kid Flash chuckled pulling Robin closer to his chest and sliding a hand from his lower back to his neck where Robin felt Kid Flash's fingers tangle within his hair.

"A ride?" Robin questioned once they had left the battle scene entirely behind. Usually, had anyone pulled this kind of stunt Robin would have been furious, would have slammed them into the ground in a second, but right now he just didn't care.

They had been running for what seemed like hours before Robin finally felt it. He felt a few stray drops of water splash on his face and sand dance in the air around them.

"Yup" Kid Flash finally smirked and began to slow. Robin squirmed in his grasp and turned around to see what was in front of them. The two stood on a tall cliff over-looking what could have been thought to be the most romantic view of the ocean in the history of all romantic ocean views.

Kid finally slowed down enough to set Robin down onto the ground. Robin nodded a thanks but still looked around, confused.

"Beautiful out here, huh?" Kid Flash demanded, sliding off his goggles and setting them on the ground as he took a seat.

"Insanely so. How did you even know this was here?" Robin questioned and joined him on the ground once he had been gestured to do so by Wally patting the ground next to him.

"I just…know." Wally whispered.

Everything happened so suddenly. Robin had felt a hand slide its way across his. He quickly turned to lock eyes with Wally who simply blushed and leaned forward. Robin's face turned a beet red as he saw Wally pull himself closer and press his forehead against the younger boys, followed by gently brushing his lips against Robin's.

The two sat like this, their lips working against one another for what seemed to be ages before Wally deepened the kiss and slowly lowered Robin to the ground behind him. He pulled himself on top of the smaller boy and felt their lips crash together with more intensity.

Robin seemed to freeze but let his eyes close tightly. Then he felt the soft lips pull away from his own and trail down his chin, along his jaw, and down to his collar-bone. He felt a hand slide up and begin working at the front buckle on his shirt, he stiffened even more as the lips traveled along his clavicle before he suddenly sat up.

"WAIT!" Dick screamed, opening his eyes and pushing everything around him away from himself.

He blinked a few times when he realized he was sitting in his room, alone, with the covers that had previously been on top of him sprawled onto the floor.

Sweat dripped from his eyebrows but was quickly wiped away by the back of his hand.

What was he doing?! Did he just have one of…_those _dreams about his _best friend?!_ He simply couldn't believe it as he shook his head back and forth as if he could shake the memory from the dream out of his brain, but the images stuck. Wally's gruff sounding voice, and the way Wally's lips had felt against his, still lingered in his mind as he kicked his legs over the edge of the bed.

Glancing quickly over at the clock, Dick realized he still had about thirty minutes before his alarm would have gone off. He debated his options, he could go back to sleep for the small amount of time he had left and risk having a quick snap-shot of his best-friend making out with him again, or he could get in a decent shower and snag a few snacks from the kitchen before Alfred woke up.

He decided on the latter of the options and slid his feet into a pair of slippers that were resting on the side of his bed. Dick made his way to the closet as well, and pulled on a tank top to cover his bare chest.

The mansion was entirely quiet, which unnerved Dick. Usually there was the sound of a vacuum whirring in the background, or Bruce laughing with co-workers on the phone or in a meeting in his office. But never, silence. Bruce would most likely return home soon regardless. He was out on a patrol last night, and from the last thing Dick had heard, it would be a busy night so he didn't necessarily want to run into the Bat before he got a shower and maybe a nap.

Dick made his way through the hallway, his slippered feet releasing a muffled slap with each step. He suddenly regretted having not brought a robe with him, seeing as he made his way further into the mansion, the temperature seemed to drop quickly. Maybe Alfred hadn't turned on the heater in the rest of the house. He claimed it was a waste of energy to have the heater on away from the rooms where no one was so he always turned them off everywhere but the bedrooms once Dick went to bed.

Turning the final corner slowly Dick saw that the light was indeed on in the kitchen. A small beam of light snaked out from underneath the door and there was a muffled humming coming from inside. He slid the door open and stepped into the brightness to reveal Alfred making a small breakfast for himself.

"Good morning Master Dick." Alfred called and gave a quick bow before beginning to pick up his dishes and setting them lightly into the sink to be washed. "You're up rather early." He commented, Dick nodded and rubbed his eyes,

"Bad dream." He said with a shrug,

"You would like me to prepare you some hot chocolate while I begin on your breakfast?" Alfred asked politely, already beginning to pull a few ingredients out from the cupboard.

"Yes, thank you." Dick nodded and took a seat at the island that stood in the middle of the kitchen.

"Do you wish to talk about it, sir?" Alfred questioned, raising an eyebrow as he scrunched up his sleeves.

"No, no." Dick muttered, not having enough faith in himself to actually muster up an entirely new dream that could rattle The Boy Wonder as much as his actually had. "I'm fine." He attempted a smile, but Alfred seemed not to buy it.

"Master Bruce informed me about your little problem." Alfred said over his should as he began to whisk a few eggs in a small metal bowl while throwing in several other ingredients.

"That doesn't surprise me." Dick mumbled and rubbed his eyes which seemed to still be riddled with sleep.

"Do you want my two cents, sir?" Alfred questioned, Dick knew full well that the older gentleman would tell him regardless of whether or not he actually wanted to hear it, so he gave no vocal response and resorted to nodding his head. "Well," Alfred began, setting a steaming mug of hot chocolate in front of the boy and walking to the fridge, "You and master Wallace have been friends for how many years now?" He asked, plucking the whipped cream from one of the compartments in the fridge.

"4…" Dick muttered, "We've been friends for 4 years."

"Well do you think that after all that time something as silly as a little girl would pull you two apart?" Alfred questioned,

"No…" Dick muttered, "But I mean, what if he gets tired of me or something?" Dick asked, "Why else would he suddenly need a …." He paused on the word,

"Female companion?" Alfred tried with a smile,

"Yeah, a 'female companion'." Dick muttered,

"Well, he's growing older, master Dick. So are you. Eventually, maybe you'll find yourself interested in a young woman as well." Dick grumbled something under his breath and took a long sip of his hot chocolate, successfully giving himself a whipped cream mustache before sliding off of the bar stools.

"I guess…eventually" Dick muttered and stretched, "I'm going to go work out." He called over his shoulder,

"But master Dick the omle-" Alfred called out to the dark haired boy as he retreated back into the freezing hallway.

….

"Mr. Grayson?" A stern female voice growled and slapped a ruler next to the sleeping Boy Wonder's head.

"WHA!" Dick yelped and shot up groggily rubbing his eyes, he stared up into stern grey orbs and apologized.

"What is the answer?" The teacher that now stood in front of him demanded, Dick rubbed his eyes and grumbled to himself flashing a look to the front board and then over to Babs who was mouthing something…

"1945?" Dick said hesitantly, Babs shot him a thumbs-up and the teacher crossed her arms and began stalking away,

"Thank you Miss Gordon." She snapped Dick once again rubbed his eyes but still shot a thankful glance over at Babs who was jotting something messily down on one of her notebooks.

Dick looked back up to the teacher who was droning on in front of him about World Wars. He glanced down at his hand when the dull edge of a folded piece of paper brushed against him.

He slickly slide the paper under his desk.

_What's wrong? _

_ -P.S. You owe me. _

Dick chuckled but clicked his pen open and scribbled down a quick response.

**Long night. **

He wrote then folded the paper and assured the teacher wasn't looking and tossed it back to the red-head who was now tapping her fingers against the desk waiting for him to return the paper.

_Are you still worried about Wally?_

**Kinda…yeah**

_When was the last time you talked to him?_

**About a week ago.**

_Hmm… something happen?_

**Not that I know of. But Babs, I gotta tell you something. **

_Shoot._

**I mean face to face. **

…_Oh. Is something wrong?_

**Very. **

_Alright. I'll talk to you after class. _

**Lunch might be better…It'll take a while. **

_That's fine :) _

**Thanks.**

_NP_

Dick leaned back against his chair and stuffed the note in his pocket. He needed her advice on something, something that he couldn't go to Bruce with, Bruce would kill him. He couldn't go to Alfred either, Alfred would tell Bruce…then Bruce would kill him, in other words he would just be pro-longing the inevitable.

The class passed by quickly, with Dick glancing over to the clock every few minutes and working and reworking how he'd break the news…that he wasn't even sure he knew what happened… to Babs.

Lunch was only one period later as Dick sat in his Algebra II class. He was paying no attention to the teacher who was muttering something about polynomials under his breath. His mustache seemed to cover his mouth enough so that understanding him was next to impossible because of how far it dropped over his mouth.

It was while Dick sat, mesmerized by the bobbing mound of facial hair as he was every period of Algebra II, that his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. Bruce had taught him to never miss a call, no matter how important the situation he was in was, unless of course, he was Robin.

With a quick raise of his hand Dick waved the teacher over, "May I use the restroom, sir?" He whispered as his phone continued to shake. The teacher nodded slowly and Dick dashed to the door before turning around and announcing, "The answer is letter C." and running through the door. Uncaring of whoever else saw him from this point on Dick flipped open his phone and speed-walked to the nearest men's restroom.

"Dick here." He whispered into the phone expecting Bruce's urgent call to assist him with something.

"Dude, come on, I know it's a weird hour but you don't gotta call me a dick!" Wally's strained voice came from the other end of the line. Dick's heart nearly sank out of his stomach when he heard the very familiar voice. But suddenly the connection hit and his heart jumped into his throat and butterflies began swarming in his stomach in memory of the dream.

"KF! I'm at school! What do you want?!" Dick demanded angrily.

"Whoa! I'm at lunch…huh…thought you were too. But hey, you wanna go catch a movie or something after school? I'll pick you up?" Dick's mind automatically answered,

"Yeah! Totally!" He smiled, but then a frown spread on his face and he mentally began remembering the contents of his backpack, sure, he had his mask, but did he remember his sunglasses? With a quick pat of one of his pockets he realized that the piece of plastic was indeed in there.

"Sweet! See I was gonna go pick up Art today" Dick's teeth clenched at the name, "But then I wanted some bro-time so I'm gonna run up to Gotham and we're gonna chill!" Dick smiled, he actually chose hanging out with him over Artemis.

"Alright, sounds good. Now I gotta go, Mr. Jones only gives a five minute bathroom break, kay? Loveyoubye." He hissed quickly and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

…

Wally held the phone to his ear in silence, what did Rob just say? Did he just say "love you?" A smirk spread onto his lips, Rob was stupid enough to slip up like that? That was worse than calling a teacher mom! He would NOT let him live that one down for a few weeks at the least!

The red head flipped his phone in front of him and began typing, **Love you too sweetheart. **But suddenly a lump caught in the throat and he deleted the message and shut his phone…love you…

….

Dick picked at the large lunch Alfred had packed him, sure he had gone without a proper breakfast this morning, Alfred reminded him of that when the butler continuously tutted at Dick about making him eat a second breakfast because he didn't want to waste the food, but he just wasn't hungry. So he resorted to distractions

Dick carefully sent a text to Bruce reading:

**Hey Bruce, Wally wants me to go to the movies with him after school, is that alright? **

After a few minutes the Bat replied

**K. Home 8. **

** Cool, thanks.**

Babs sat down after a few minutes a tray of what looked like spaghetti held in her hands,

"So, kiddo, what's wrong?" She asked, picking up a plastic fork and swirling it around in the red-sauce covered noodles.

"It's Wally…" Dick muttered his stomach suddenly dropping again. "I had a dream about him last night." Babs cocked her head to the side with one eyebrow raised,

"What kind of dream?" She asked and chewed a few more bites of her spaghetti

"…one where we…" Dick broke off as he remembered the intensity and urgency that Wally had kissed him with in the dream and just prayed that he had the chance to relive it…wait…what? "Kissed." He finally spat and grabbed his milk before taking a long swig. "And not just like a peck. Like we _kissed,"_ He groaned,

Babs sat there looking a little taken aback, she knew this was serious but she didn't think it was _that _serious.

"Okay…umm…Did you…" She fumbled for ways on how to ask this without sounding horribly awkward, "like it?" Dick shot her a quick disbelieving look. He looked like he was about to demand how she could ask such a preposterous question of him.

"Liked it?" Dick murmured, "I…loved it" He choked. Babs sat looking at him, jaw dropped and eyes wide. "Like I would relive it if I had the chance" He clarified. "A few more times" The bashful Boy Wonder grumbled and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "What's wrong with me?" He demanded "Wally's my best friend…why do I feel like this?" Babs shook her head,

"Maybe… it's just your way of compensating for not being able to spend time with him! You're kind of loosing the way you actually feel and are making something up so you feel closer to him!" She tried, Dick looked at her glumly

"Hopefully." He growled "But…why was it so…detailed?" He whispered, "If it's just for the feeling why didn't he just kiss me or hug me or just play some video games?!" Dick swore,

"Detailed?" Babs asked,

"Yes…detailed." Dick nodded

"Like how?"

"Don't make me…" Dick moaned,

"Dick, tell me what happened."

"Please, no"

"Dick!"

"Noooo"

"Richard Grayson!" Dick looked up from where he had buried his head into his hands and groaned,

"Fine" He snapped and attempted to pull together every single detail to tell Babs. "There was this fight, I don't remember who we were fighting, but you know it was the group and what not. I got punched and started flying back, KF caught me …well he started running he was still carrying me… but we kept going until we got to the most…amazing place…ever." Dick was almost breathless at the memory. "It was like this cliff overlooking the ocean, and it was perfect… then we just sat there for a while. He grabbed my hand and kissed me." Dick debated going into more detail but stopped there when an enormous blush began spreading across his face.

"Wow…" Babs whispered, "that's really…"

"Bad?" Dick offered,

"Romantic." She finished, Dick glowered at her,

"No. Not romantic." He growled,

"Dick, maybe you _like _him." Dick buried his head once again into his hands,

"Don't say that!" He moaned, "I don't like KF like..._that…_Besides I'm not…not…" He couldn't bring himself to say the word,

"Gay?" Babs asked, Dick nodded,

"Not even bi! I'm straight Babs why am I thinking like this!"

"Dick, you're too young to know what you are for certain! Maybe you are…homosexual." Babs attempted to comfort him by reaching a hand across the table to him. He didn't accept it as he stood up.

"No. I'm not." He grumbled and collected his stuff before storming off.

**Yay! End of an extremely long chapter, this is about the length that the rest will be, so yeah. **

**THANK YOOOU for your reviews, I totally love them! **

**The more reviews the longer the chapters and the more often there are updates~**


	4. Dates

**Sorry I couldn't post yesterday~ **

**Busy and very long day.**

**Okay, so there are a few songs mentioned in this one. Songs are going to be throughout so yes there will always be stuff in the end telling you the song that is being used and who it's by. **

**Enjoy~**

A million thoughts ran through Dick's mind in the final seconds of his last period. Maybe he should text Wally and tell him to just go away, drive far away and never come back. But maybe seeing Wally would remind him that the redhead was his best friend and just his best friend.

Babs had tried to apologize to him several times already. Worried eyes watched him from across the room as he sat in the front row and tapped his pencil against his paper with anxiety as the final moments ticked by before he'd have to face the fastest boy alive.

The bell finally did chime and Dick was up and out of his seat before his teacher had finished that night's homework instructions. His name was called after him several times before Dick had made his way across the room, and shut the door behind him.

The agile boy weaved through large groups of people as they flooded out of their last periods.

Fishing his sunglasses out of his pocket he slid them on his face and mussed up his hair the best he could. A familiar red BMW was parked just in front of the school. It was accompanied by the ginger that owned the car posing suggestively on top of the hood.

"What took you so long, Rob?!" Wally laughed, "I've been waiting for you!"

"Get. In. The. Damn. Car." Dick growled, grabbed Wally by his ear and pushing him off the hood.

"Haha, alright, alright!" Wally laughed and hopped off the car, "long day?" He asked as he opened up the driver's door and slid onto the tan leather seats.

"You could say that." Dick grumbled and clambered into the passenger's seat throwing his bag into the back seat. "What movie are we catching?" Dick asked with a quick raise of his eyebrow,

"There's some new action movie out I wanna see" Wally sent Dick a giant smile, "Art said she was bored of them and wanted to watch something girly. So I told her to get another movie-watching buddy and that I'd go see the bloody-violent-man-movie with you."

"Whoa, you guys actually got into a fight?" Dick said, almost hopeful that they had broken everything off altogether,

"I guess, no big deal." He shrugged, "we're going out for breakfast tomorrow to make up for it." Dick almost pouted at this as Wally began to turn into the lane closest to them.

The drive was almost entirely silent for the first five minutes. Dick just sat and watched Wally. Watched every muscle that moved as he drove along the roads of Gotham. The dream hadn't left his mind since lunch. It snuck back into the forefront of his mind when he caught a glimpse of Wally's lips while he lip-sunk to some pop song.

A blush spread across his face as he remembered how smooth those lips had felt against his own. _Whoa, calm down Dick. Breathe. It didn't really happen. Chill. Get traught…get traught…there you go…_Dick consoled himself.

"Hey, hey! Turn up the volume man, I love this song!" Wally smirked as _She's No You _began blasting through the speakers

"They got a lotta girls Who know they got it going on. But nothing's ever a comparison to you. Now can't you see that your the only one I really want. And everything I need, Is everything you do?" Wally began belting reaching over a hand and gently stroking it under Dick's chin, "Much better than that new boy-band, crap, huh? Good ol' Jesse!" He laughed, Dick fought back a blush as Wally continued singing.

This was going to be a long, long night.

"Rob, what's your favorite song?" Wally asked once the song had ended,

"What?" Dick demanded,

"Yeah, what's your favorite song? I mean, I don't know if I could choose, but right now I'm kinda diggin some Barenaked Ladies" Dick swirled around,

"Some _what?!" _He demanded,

"Barenaked Ladies? You know, the band?" Wally laughed, "Robby you're a perv." He snorted and pushed Dick's shoulder,

"I'm not a perv…" Dick grumbled,

"But yeah, as I was saying, you know the song '_Falling For The First Time?' _yeah, I can't stop listening to it man." Dick nodded. He'd heard the song before but not for a while,

"Do you have it?" Dick asked, Wally shot a quick look at him,

"Of course I do." Wally laughed and pushed a few buttons on the dash until the CD compartment came open and he popped in a CD titled _Maroon _into the slot.

"Which track?" Dick asked,

"5" Wally said automatically. "I don't know, I just love it." He smiled. Dick nodded at him and sat back while the music began.

_I'm so cool, too bad I'm a loser  
I'm so smart, too bad I can't get anything figured out  
I'm so brave, too bad I'm a baby  
I'm so fly, that's probably why it  
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time_

It certainly sounded like a Wally-song. It was uplifting with the beat, but it wasn't until Dick actually listened to the lyrics that he realized how like Wally the song was. It covered his ego almost perfectly.

_I'm so green, it's really amazing  
I'm so clean, too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me.  
I'm so sane, it's driving me crazy  
It's so strange, I can't believe it  
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time_

Dick bit his lip. _Falling for the first time…_Was that what was happening to him?

_Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost  
Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost  
What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?  
What if I nursed this infection? Maybe the worst is behind  
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time  
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time_

He HAD lost his direction. Where was he going? Every move he seemed to be doing about Wally seemed to be the wrong choice… This song seemed to fit scarily close to what was happening, but why, of all song did Wally choose this song to show him, was it just a coincidence, or did Wally feel something too?

_I'm so chill, no wonder it's freezing  
I'm so still, I just can't keep my fingers out of anything  
I'm so thrilled to finally be failing  
I'm so done, turn me over cause it  
Feels just like I'm falling for the first time_

Dick almost buried his head in his hands at this point. Every time the chorus rang out he felt like he was going to die.

_Anything plain can be lovely, anything loved can be lost  
Maybe I lost my direction, what if our love is the cost?  
Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost  
Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost  
What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?  
What if I nursed this infection? Maybe the worst is behind _

Dick smiled up at Wally as the song came to an end, "Pretty good, huh?" The older boy asked,

"Yeah. I liked it" Dick nodded. It was just a coincidence. Just a coincidence. Wally had a girlfriend. There was no way that he could like him. Besides that Wally was _straight_. Dick almost laughed at his own stupidity. Hell, he wasn't even sure what he thought of Wally yet, either. He felt _something _but still had no idea what he felt. Why should Wally feel anything other than friendship between the two of them?

…

The mall wasn't crowded. It was pretty empty actually. It relaxed Dick seeing as he wasn't in the mood to interact with anyone tonight, other than Wally of course.

"Alright, ready?" Wally asked as the two stepped into line to purchase the tickets once they had reached the theatre.

"Yup" Dick nodded, still not sure what movie they were watching. He didn't really pay attention either as Wally paid for their tickets and began walking away.

"I could have paid" Dick grumbled.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I made you pay?" Wally joked. Dick blushed, but rolled his eyes at the comment.

"You think you're a gentleman?" The shorter boy laughed,

"Duh." Wally smirked,

"A gentleman does not say 'duh'." Dick said, repeating something Alfred had told him a few months ago.

"Whatever" Wally laughed, unconsciously saying exactly what Dick had said in return the jab from Alfred

"And a proper gentleman must _never _say, 'whatever'!" He scoffed, Wally almost snorted at the voice Dick was using,

"Dude, what the hell?" He chortled, "where do you get this stuff?" Dick just smirked at him,

"I know a guy" He shrugged,

"Whoa, that's not was Bats is actually like, is it?"

"No, but that's what the only man alive that can tell Bats what to do sounds like." Dick said and almost instantly regretted it,

"Wait, someone out there can actually tell the Bat what to do?" Wally gapped. Dick shrugged,

"You didn't hear it from me." He said automatically

"Alright, man. But who is it? Like your grandpa or something?" The speedster demanded and began dancing around Dick as they finally found their way into the line at the snack bar, where Wally would undoubtedly stuff his face.

"Something like that" Dick nodded once Alfred's face popped into memory. In a way he was kinda like Bruce's father. Or he acted like he was.

"Way cool" Wally laughed, "Wait, dude, how are you gonna see the movie with your glasses on?" He suddenly asked in between order an unimaginable amount of food.

"I'll manage." Dick shrugged. He'd accomplished this feat before, but it was when Babs had dragged him to an incredibly boring chick-flick that he had slept through. If he actually wanted to SEE the movie though, this might serve as kind of a problem.

"Suit yourself. I was hoping to see under those though" Wally teased and wiggled the glasses that stayed firmly on Dick's face.

"No. Bat's rules" He had repeated this phrase so many times to Wally already. Now, Wally just shrugged the response off and continued with whatever the two were doing. But the hurt used to show on his face more after the first couple of times Dick had snapped it at him. Dick knew why Wally was so angry about it too. The Kid Flash had trusted Dick with his secret identity from second one of them being friends, but Wally didn't even know his own best friends _name. _

Dick pulled himself out of his mental tangent as Wally tugged on his arm.

"Hello~ Earth to Rob!" The Kid Flash pouted, Dick blinked and noticed that Wally was only about an inch away from his face. Blushing madly, for what seemed like the millionth time that night, Dick shoved him away.

"Sorry…" Dick grumbled as a few pieced of popcorn tumbled from the bucket and onto the floor.

"Hold some stuff, will yah?" Wally asked and shoved several boxes of candy and a few bottles of water into the small boy's hands.

"You covering this too?" Dick asked as they approached the cash register,

"I bought tickets~" Wally sang and pushed Dick forward,

"Oh you cheap son of a bi-… fine" He growled as Wally sent him a puppy dog look. "But this is the last time!"

"You said that the last nine times."

"Oh, so you're paying?" Dick smirked elbowing the redhead forward.

"No! No! Continue!" Wally grinned and buried his face into the popcorn bowl.

"What all do you have there?" The cashier asked,

"Ummm 15 boxes of candy, 3 large popcorns…really you needed 3 LARGES? Ugg whatever, 4 nachos umm 5 waters and 2 pops." Dick smiled and fished around for his wallet. His couldn't bare to listen to the number so he just thrust his debit card at the cashier. He would hear from Bruce about this later…

"Hey thanks buddy!" Wally grinned and leaned forward to peck Dick on the cheek as they began walking towards their theatre. Dick scoffed at him,

"Oh you owe me" He growled, but for some reason, because of that little innocent peck, he totally forgave him for spending an ungodly amount of money.

…

"Well…that was lame." Wally grumbled as they left the theatre with their mountain of empty boxes.

"You know, I think people were less interested in the movie, and more interested in how you managed to eat three times your body weight in popcorn before the title of the had come up" Dick joked and bumped his hip into Wally's.

"It'll give them a story to tell when they get home." Wally winked, returning the hip-chuck with one with slightly more force.

"Oh, really?" Dick smiled,

"Yeah." Wally laughed and when Dick went for another hip-chuck, he grabbed his arm and link theirs at the elbow. "So, Mr. Robin, what else do you wish to do tonight?" Dick shrugged and felt his free hand almost instinctually lift to rest on Wally's arm.

"Why don't we go try on dresses?" He said with a mock lisp, as they past two giggling girls who had their arms linked the same as theirs.

The girls shot them a look and then began giggling to one another again,

"Oh no I couldn't!" Wally said, pulling Dick so they stood right in front of the two girls, "I am in _such _horrible shape!" He sent Dick a wink telling him to play along,

"Girl! Are you for real? Look at my thunder thighs!" Dick nearly squealed, "You look like a Greek goddess compared to me missy!" Wally almost burst out laughing and dragged Dick away from the two girls who shot them confused looks as they continued their walk.

"Thunder thighs?!" Wally howled, Dick winked,

"I had to come up with something." Dick laughed and elbowed Wally. "They looked like they were loosing interest."

"Oh and the Greek goddess thing?"

"You DO kinda have lady hips." The raven-haired boy shrugged,

"Well at least I'm not as bad as you! Everything on you screams lady!" Wally waved his hands in front of Dick to make it look like he was outlining a woman's form,

"Alright, alright!" Dick chuckled and pushed into Wally. The redhead snickered as the two began walking again. Dick flashed a look at his watch. **9:42**, shit. Yeah Bruce would kill him when he got home for staying out so late. He had NO idea it was that late already.

"Maybe we should head home?" Dick asked, "It's late and Bats will kill me if I stay out too-" as if on cue, Dick's phone rang. "Crap." He moaned and pressed a finger to his lips to tell Wally to be quiet as he flipped it open.

"Hell-"

"Outside. Front entrance. Now." Bruce's gruff voice growled. Yeah, he was pissed.

"Shit…" Dick muttered once he had hung up,

"What? Bats want you home? The cars parked the other way, we could go really quick."

"No…Bats is here." Dick bit his lip, Bruce knew it was Wally, so was he looking for Batman or Bruce Wayne? Wouldn't it be a bit odd to see Dick Grayson getting into the Bat mobile? So many thoughts ran through his head once he had hung up,

"Dude, what time were you supposed to be home?" Wally sputtered,

"…8…" Dick whispered, Wally stopped,

"EIGHT? Dude, Bats is gonna KILL me for letting you stay out this long! Damn it!"

"I didn't notice how late it was!" Dick snapped back,

"…there's a BIG difference between 8 and 10 dude!" Wally gapped as they neared the entrance. "Dude, is THAT your car?" He asked when a slim, window tinted black Ferrari pulled up in front of the entrance. "I knew Bats would be rich, but _damn!"_ Wally beamed at the car.

"Yup…now excuse me as I met my untimely demise." Dick groaned and popped the back door open. Wally strained to get a view into the car to see if maybe Bats was driving, but he had no such luck seeing as there was a tinted window between the front and the back seats.

"Bye Rob." Wally waved, Dick looked over his shoulder as Wally pushed his door closed and waved.

Wally scooted forward just a bit before the car managed to get away, Bats was obviously scolding him. He peered into the front seat and spotted a strongly built, dark haired man, he was also wearing sunglasses so his eyes were impossible to see, but still he looked familiar, but Wally couldn't place the name.

…

"You're home kinda late" Uncle Barry commented from his spot on the couch,

"Yeah, after the movie we kinda hung out a little." Wally shrugged, Barry nodded and filled his mouth with a handful of trail mix.

"How was the movie?" Barry asked and patted the seat next to him on the couch, Wally plopped down,

"Eh it was alright, I was more focused on the food anyway. That and I kind hoped Rob would have had to take off his glasses or something to watch." Barry chuckled,

"You are really determined to see under that poor boy's mask, huh?"

"Yes, yes I am…" Wally turned to face his uncle, "You know who he is don't you?" Wally asked, Barry shrugged

"Yes, but that's just because I've known Bats for a while, and I've babysat the little turd a few times while Alfred was busy."

"Who?"

"Butler"

"They have a BUTLER?" Wally demanded, "How _rich _are they?" He demanded and slumped against the couch, "You aren't gonna tell me his name are you?"

"Nope."

"He's gotta tell me on his own?"

"Yup."

"Not even a hint?"

"Nope."

"Initials?"

"Nope."

"You know Bats' name?" Wally demanded

"Yup."

"Tell me that?"

"Nope." Barry repeated in a bit of a monotone and clicked to the next channel

"Hint?" Wally begged

"Nope."

"Initials?"

"Nope."

"Anything?"

"They live in Gotham."

"…I never would have guessed." Wally grumbled.

"They are both secretly superheroes."

"You can see the surprise on my face."

"It's past your bed-time"

"Really, I'm 16! I don't need a bed time!"

"I think you do. Now, it's a school night, so bed. Now."

"I can't go on patrol?"

"Hell no."

"Do I have to go to bed?"

"Yes…"

"Is Aunt Iris home?"

"No…"

"Wanna play Call of Duty."

"Hell yeah I do." And with that the two bolted up and raced to set up the game system and the game.

**There's the end of that one, it was a little bit shorter then I wanted and so I added a little length to it. So, yes, Wally and Barry time was given to you. Kind of a very long rapid fire conversation… **

**But yes, songs used were "Falling for the First Time" By the BareNakedLadies (one of my favorite songs) and then mentioned briefly is "She's No You" by Jesse McCartney, and yes, because he voices Robin there will be lots of mention of Mr. McCartney in the story.**

**Thank you all so much for your reviews! **

**Review and suggest a song to be in a future chapter! **


	5. Decisions

**I cannot express how terribly sorry I am for how late this is I wrote and rewrote and edited then rewrote this chapter so many times…and I'm still not in love with it… **

**But a lot happens so, enjoy~**

Dick knew from the silence coming from the front of the car that he was in trouble. Still, he kept his mouth shut and glanced uncomfortably out the window.

They were 10 minutes into their drive before Bruce finally broke the silence,

"How was the movie?" He asked, his deep voice almost shocking Dick from its sudden appearance.

"…bad." Dick muttered back, when Bruce only coughed in response he repeated, "It wasn't good." A bit louder.

"Oh…so not worth the two weeks of grounding your getting?" Bruce inquired

"Not at all." Dick grumbled to himself, "No, sir." He said up to Bats.

"Good, good…" Bruce nodded, "In case you didn't catch my drift, you're grounded…" he chipped in.

"For two weeks?" Dick asked,

"Yes. Do you know what this means?"

"No phone, no lap top, no T.V., no games?" Dick said, this was the usual grounds for his punishment whenever he was grounded.

"No patrol." Bats added. Dick's jaw dropped,

"What? That's not fair!" Bruce shot him a glare through the mirror of the car but didn't respond. Dick sighed and leaned back into the leather seats, it was no use arguing with his adopted father, he would loose regardless of how amazing his point was and frankly, he had a pretty bad point.

The next few minutes remained in an awkward silence, it wasn't until Bruce spoke once again that the silence was broken,

"Alfred told me you had a nightmare." He said, "Care to explain?" Dick laid back in his seat, the dream flashing through his mind like a bullet.

"Eh." Was all he could muster in response, "Nothing really." He needed to tell Bruce about this love…like…whatever for Wally eventually and this was a pretty good shot, but honestly, he didn't even understand his own feelings, so why share them?

"Nothing?" Bruce repeated and tapped his fingers against the steering wheel.

"Nothing." Dick said back to him and once again another awkward silence ensued.

…

Dick flicked on the water of his shower and let the water heat up as he undressed. Taking one button at a time he undid his shit, leaving him in only slacks and a wife-beater. He ran his hands through his hair and looked in the mirror.

Even through the thin fabric of the shirt the muscles lining his chest and stomach were obvious. The perfectly sculpted bulk lead all the way down his bare arms.

Now, not only did he have these wonderfully toned muscles, he was pretty good-looking if he did say so himself. Taking his chin in between his index finger and thumb he turned his face to either side to examine it. The pale ivory skin, to anyone else would have appeared flawless. But Dick saw only the flaws.

His lip was slightly turned upwards by a fading scar, he had cuts and nicks lining his face, his eyes had lost their luster it appeared, and seemed more dull. He had thick eyelashes, too thick to be considered masculine, and his had a slight uplift on his nose. To himself he was imperfect.

Even if Wally was single, he wouldn't like him. There was just too much wrong.

Dick pulled himself away from the mirror and continued to strip until he was finally able to step under the burning hot water of the shower.

He let the water wash over him and he closed his eyes. Wally. Wallace West. Kid Flash. The Fastest Boy Alive…He was all the Boy Wonder could think about.

Sitting down against the slick white of the tub Dick leaned forward with his head in his hands.

"Arg…" He groaned and lifted his head, _do I like him? He's my best friend, that's not right. Or is it? It feels right…but it feels so wrong. But he's perfect…but he's taken…What's wrong with me! I need Babs…no, I can do this. Stay whelmed, stay whelmed. _Dick fought with himself until his head finally cleared, _Okay what do I like about him? _

_ His laugh… his smile… his voice…his lips…his nose…his bright green eyes…his fiery red hair…his rough hands…his jokes…his warmth…his idiotic rants… his speed… his massive appetite… his annoying comments… his sense of safety… his willingness to break the rules… his everything. _

Dick moaned as a blush spread across his face. Music! Music would help calm him down, sliding halfway out of the tub he reached over to his pants and pulled out his Ipod from one of his pockets. Putting it on shuffle and cranking up the volume he set the Ipod down on the floor next to the shower and sat back.

"It isnt a crime to want  
A little space to breathe  
But you will be fine  
The sun again will shine on you  
Whatever you do"

The boy cracked a smile and leaned back and let himself speak along with the lyrics. It wasn't a crime for him to want Wally, or for Wally to want some space to breathe away from either him or Artemis… He would be fine…_they _would be fine. Dick smirked as he sang along

"Take your sweet, sweet time  
I will be here when you change your mind  
Take your sweet, sweet time  
I will be here for you baby  
Anytime"

He was going to wait for Wally. He had to. There wasn't much of another choice he had. He had to sit and wait, figure out his feelings and figure out where Wally stood.

"I'm feeling you pull away  
'cause letting go isn't easy for me  
But you'll never fly  
With someone else's wings, I know  
Wherever you go"

Wally was pulling away from him, true, but he was going to hold on.

As Dick went back into the chorus his mouth dropped and his settled his head in his hands once again.

"I…" He whispered, "I love Wallace West."

…

After coming to such an enormous conclusion Dick's mind was moving at a million miles an hour, _does this mean I'm gay? Or bi? Or what? What if he doesn't like me? What if he likes me, but he doesn't want to admit that he likes another guy so he's dating Artemis? What do I do then? What if him and Artemis get married? Then I'm screwed… Wait are there any other cute guys that I know? Whoa, slow down, one thing at a time there Dick. _So many things flew through his mind as he sat there, just letting the, slowing cooling, water run over him.

Suddenly there was a pound at the door.

"Out now." Bruce's voice boomed through the room.

Dick's hand snaked out to turn the water off and he rubbed the dripping liquid out of his eyes,

"Yes?" He asked, wondering if the bat needed something,

"You were…singing." Bruce said,

"Yeah…." Dick mumbled back, "Oh, hey umm…Bruce, tomorrow can I go talk to Black Canary?" He asked,

"I'll ask her to stop by, you're not going to Mount Justice until your punishment is over."

"Thanks." Dick rolled his eyes as he heard the footsteps retreat.

…

"What do you need, Dick?" Dinah asked and leaned back against the same chair Bruce had sat in when Dick was interrogated several months ago. Dick rocked back on his heels as he sat on his bed.

"I just…I couldn't tell Bruce about this…" Dick whispered,

"Do you want to go grab something to eat so it's more private?" the older woman asked, Dick nodded,

"That would be nice. Bats has ears everywhere in this house." He frowned Dinah nodded,

"I guessed as much, alright, my bike's out front we can go get some ice cream or something." She shrugged, "It is important enough for us to leave, isn't it?" She looked over her shoulder at the boy, Dick nodded and grabbed his sunglasses. "Let's go then."

Dinah lead Dick out to the front yard where her motorcycle was parked in front of the manor. She pulled her legs over either side of the bike. Dick had to say it was a little weird seeing the woman wear so much clothes.

She had a nice fitting pair of jeans that were flared a bit at the bottom revealing black boots underneath. Her top was a black tank top accompanied with a jean jacket matching her jeans and her long blonde hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. The look suited her.

"I know a place about ten minutes from here" Dinah said before the two drove off.

…

"So, kiddo, what's going on?" Dinah asked, Dick bit his lip and stirred around his vanilla ice cream a bit.

"I kinda like someone." He sighed,

"Relationship advice?" Dinah wondered aloud,

"Something like that." The canary was silent, "Umm okay so as of late I think I've kind of gotten…feelings for one of my friends and it's really weird because we're like best friends and that'd be weird and I don't know what to do because I know they don't feel the same way." He blurted and scooped a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

"Ahhh, who is it? Babs?" Dinah asked taking her own chocolate ice cream and sliding her tongue across the surface.

"No…"

"Umm a girl at school?"

"No…"

"M'gann?" The blonde wondered,

"Not M'gann." Dick commented and felt an enormous blush building up on his face.

"Oh…it's not Artemis is it?" She gasped, "Dick, she's dating Wally isn't she?"

"Don't remind me." He groaned, "But no not Art." Dinah bit her lip and pondered,

"Not gonna guess am I?" Dick shook his head and shoved another spoon-full of the freezing cream into his mouth,

"Probably not." He confessed,

"There something else going on here, Dick?" The Black Canary demanded "Why couldn't you tell Bruce?"

"I…Dinah I think I'm… I like…" It was hard enough to say it to himself, but now he had to say it to another person. Dick drew in a breath and after what seemed like the longest moment of his life he finally exhaled and muttered the boy's name, "Wally." Dinah's eyes widened and she looked back over at him,

"Oh."

"See why I couldn't tell Bats?" Dick whispered, "How's he gonna react when he finds out I'm…I'm…"

"Gay?" Dinah finished,

"Exactly."

"Dick, I think you should tell him. Bruce deserves to know this." Dick shifted in his seat but nodded,

"But what if I'm not, what if it's just a phase?" Dick sputtered when Dinah begin to stand,

"How long have you felt this way?" She asked sitting back down, "Like about Wally or about…guys in general?"

"Months." Dick moaned,

"Dick, I think that maybe it's not a phase, just I guess time will tell."

"Alright." Dick muttered, "Hey, Dinah?" He spoke, the blonde raised a slender eyebrow at him,

"Yeah?"

"Thanks.

…

Wally laid against his bed post, his phone pressed in his hands as he debated texting Dick or not, asking him whether he was alive or if the Bat had mutilated him.

Still, something stopped his every time he went to type something in the keyboard.

**Hey bra, Bats kill you yet?**

** Oh hey Bats, know you probably took Rob's phone so, don't kill him kay? :)**

** WHADDUP MY MAN? Pretty shitty movie, huh? **

** Hey, umm, so earlier when you got off the phone you said "love you"…what was that all about? **

** So, umm Art is super pissed at me, help kay, bro? **

** You should've introduced me to that driver of yours.**

** Hey, next time, I'll pay for the snacks, kay?**

** Hey, sorry I got you in trouble bro, shoulda asked about a curfew.**

No, no, no, no, no! None of them sounded right, Wally kept typing and erasing and typing and erasing until finally he just shut his phone and put it on his dresser. He'd never really had a problem knowing what to say before, why was he so suddenly tongue tied?

…

_Three Months Later_

Dick, once again, sat on the couch as Wally stuffed his face. But this time Artemis was sitting with her legs across Wally's lap and was nagging him for his eating habits. Zatanna was also in the room, the magician was slung over Dick's lap and was absently mindedly fussing over his hair.

"When are you and Zatanna gonna go out?" Artemis suddenly piped up and snagged a chip from the bowl that sat in Wally's lap.

"What?" Dick suddenly coughed sitting up. Zatanna nearly fell off his lap before his arms snaked around her and pulled her back. Wavering blue eyes darted between Dick's face to Artemis's

"What?!" Zatanna repeated her face flushing a deep red.

"When are you two gonna go out?" She questioned again, Wally shot her a dark glare, Dick was almost frightened by the sight of his eyes turning into slits. "I think you two would be cute together and I mean you're always together too!" Artemis shrugged,

"You don't just ask people that!" Wally said, his voice was considerably softer than the look he was wearing a few moments before.

"Well it's an honest question!" Artemis sent back at him. Wally rolled his eyes as she gave him a light shove.

"Whatever" Wally grumbled and leaned forward to place a peck lightly on Artemis's lips. She welcomed it and then wiped her mouth,

"Watch it! You're covered in chips!" She groaned giving him another gentle smack on the back of his head.

"Sorry!" Wally chuckled and proceeded to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand and then plant another kiss onto Artemis's lips.

"Much better." The archer smiled and returned the favor by planting a short sweet kiss on his cheek. Dick blushed and turned away from the affection. His heart was pounding a million miles an hour and his hands clutched into fists at the sight. No matter how many times he had seen the two kiss, it never got easier, the throb and his heart beat and it felt like the cuts that were caused each time their lips brushed against one another's burst open in a fury of pain and depression.

Zatanna noticed his sudden tensing at the situation and grabbed onto his hand with a slight reassuring smile.

…

Dick stood with Zatanna in front of his bedroom door a few hours after the awkward encounter with Artemis and Wally. The two dark haired teens stood nearly silent, with Dick didn't want to seem rude and slam the door in the magician's face, but Zatanna didn't seem to want to move from her position, and he honestly just wanted to be alone.

"Umm Rob?" she finally asked as she scuffed her feet against the hard cement floor of the hallway,

"Hmm?" Dick asked looking up from a particular spot in the wall he had been focused on for the past few awkward seconds,

"Would you like to…go to dinner with me tomorrow, like on a date?" She finally said, smiling timidly up at the slightly taller boy, Dick looked at her, not really surprised by her asking him out, but more of how quiet and unsure she seemed about it.

"Dinner? Oh um, sur-…I mean of course!" Dick smiled, yet he almost instantly regretted his response. Zatanna's face lit up and she bashfully tucked a lock of hair behind her ear,

"We'll work something out in the morning then I'll see you tomorrow Boy Wonder!" She grinned giddily and leaned up to give Dick a peck on the cheek before nearly skipping down the hallway away from Dick's room.

"Don't call me-" Dick began but then cut off and turned to go back into his room.

The Boy Wonder could have screamed back at her saying that he changed his mind, he didn't want to, he wanted to go to dinner with Wally, he was gay. But he didn't. He kept his mouth shut. He noticed how much this meant to the girl and he couldn't take that away from her, he would sit through an evening with Zatanna, have some dinner, catch a good movie, they'd go home, she'd kiss him on the cheek, he'd give her a hug, everything would end the same way it began with them being mutual friends.

If everything was so simple, then _why_ did Dick have a lump in his throat the size of Gotham? Why did he feel like he should text Zatanna and cancel, or text Wally and confess…confess, why did it feel like he was betraying Wally by going out with Zatanna?

He shook his head and whipped out his phone. Sliding his fingers across the screen a few times he text in a simple message to the red head, who was probably sitting at a movie with Artemis.

**You wont guess what just happened. **

Content with the message he sent it and headed towards his bathroom. He stepped onto the pale tile floors of the bathroom and pulled out a towel before flipping on the water and stripping. He set his phone on the counter beside the shower and removed his sunglasses before stepping under the whirring torrent of water. The phone let off a loud buzz beside the shower, alerting the occupant of the large bath to the response.

_**Dude, Supes told another joke didn't he?!**_

Dick cracked a smile and typed back,

**No.**

Wally responded almost instantly, the movie must've been really bad.

_**Oh, then what? **_

**I was just asked out on a date.**

_**Proof or it didn't happen. **_

**Just ask Zatanna. **

_**She was there? **_

**She asked me out. **

_**Oh….well…what did you say? **_

**Yes.**

_**Oh…good job bro. **_

**Are you okay? Is the movie just THAT bad? **

_**Something like that. **_

**Oh really? **

_**Well it's about this guy, who's in a relationship, but he's not sure about it you know? Because he kinda digs his best friend, but his best friend is totally not available because she is like all like Juliet with the prissy dad and crap not letting them date and he was totally friend zoned, and so he is kinda living in this weird relationship and his best friend is falling further and further away from him…and now she's in love with someone else…It's kinda sad really. **_

**Oh… **

_**Do you get it? **_

**Do I get what? **

_**Never mind. I'll talk to you later kay? I gotta go back in the theater before Art yells at me. **_

**Bye. **

_**Bye dude. **_

Dick starred in awe at the text, he scrolled back through the bunch in shock…there was not one perverted joke, not one "lol", not one "get some"…nothing…nothing but the detailed plot of a movie that he knew Wally wasn't paying enough attention to, to come up with such a detailed analysis and explanation of the plot line…what was going on?

Dick bit his lip and shook his head before setting the phone down and stepping back under the spray of now luke-warm water.

He settled down against the back of the shower and slid down to the floor so that the water ran over him. The Boy Wonder pressed his eye shut and took in a low shaky inhale.

"What am I doing?" Robin swore and snagged the shampoo from the counter. "Wally…I like…Wally, right? Do I like him? Shit! Then why am I going out with Zatanna tomorrow? Damn it! I'm such an idiot!" He nearly screamed and buried his head in his hands as the water washed over him.

"Why is this so hard!" He groaned and leaned back against the back of the tub.

…

Wally bit his lip before he sent the extremely long message. He had excused himself from the very bloody slasher film to go to the bathroom when Robin had text him.

The red head paced back and forth along the hallway in the movie-theatre, just looking at the text. Finally with one sharp in take of breath he sends it and almost instantly deletes it in fear that Artemis would look through his phone again to find a cute text she swore she sent him.

His phone buzzed almost instantly in his hands and he flipped open the message,

**Are you okay? **

A text from Artemis flashed across the screen. He smiled a bit at her concern then chuckled when he replied,

**All good babe, just wanted to grab some more grub ;) s2***

He smirked, content at the text and sent it.

**Kay, hurry up! **

Then, his phone buzzed again and before he could respond to Artemis's last message he exited out and looked at the new message,

**Oh… **

The boy wonder had responded. Wally had an intake of breath before responding,

**Do you get it?**

Hell, he wasn't even sure if _he _got it, and now he almost regretted sending the text.

**Do I get what? **

Was the response, Wally decided to back peddle before he did anything even more stupid,

**Never mind. I'll talk to you later kay? I gotta go back in the theater before Art yells at me. **

With that and a round of good bye's the conversation was ended and Wally, for once in his life, was not hungry, his stomach was in knots and he almost felt guilty…guilty…for what?

…

Zatanna looked beautiful when Dick came to pick her up. She was wearing a pale purple jacket over a simple lacy blouse as well as a light colored skirt. Her black hair was in a lazy, yet shockingly attractive, bun and her face glowed with just a light tint of makeup on.

Dick wished he could say he looked half as good. He was wearing a black jacket over a red polo and black skinny jeans. His hair fell limp, per usual when he was Robin, over his forehead and he had his nice sunglasses on.

"Wow." Dick whispered when Zatanna's door opened, "You look… asterous." He smiled.

"Oh um, is that good?" She smirked and put a hand on her hip.

"Very good." Dick chuckled and held out his arm for her to take.

"Alright, so Mr. Secretive, where are we going for dinner?" She inquired. The two had gotten together that morning to arrange what was going to happen for the date, but Dick simply said he had plans and that is was a secret. Zatanna had put up a brief struggle, claiming that she was the one to ask him out and thus she should be the one to take him out. But Dick had pulled the gentlemen card and reminded her about manners and asked her what kind of gentlemen he'd be had he not made arrangements for them for the evening.

"You'll see." Dick smiled as she accepted his outstretched arm.

"Oh, again with the secrets?" She laughed,

"I'm full of them." The Boy Wonder almost cackled as they continued to walk, "Don't worry, you'll be totally whelmed!" He smiled, Zatanna only nodded and let him lead her out to the R-cycle before noticing a sleek black limo parked right besides it. Dick frowned, _damn it Bruce! _Her growled to himself and checked the driver's side to see that Alfred was driving.

Dick cracked open the back door and allowed Zatanna to step in before sliding in himself.

"Good evening Master Robin, Miss Zatanna." Alfred greeted from behind a tinted screen.

"You got us a limo?" Zatanna said, "I would have been fine with walking in all honesty!" She laughed, "But I think I can live with this." The girl leaned back against the inhumanly soft seats and let out a sigh.

"Master Robin wished for tonight to be a magical evening." The elderly man said, Dick smiled and took Zatanna's hand, "Now, shall we be off?"

"Alright Alfred, I'm sure you know where to go." Dick sighed and leaned against the limo. "I'll be talking to Bats about this later." He grumbled,

"Oh Batman knows we're going out tonight? AND he got you a limo?" Zatanna said curiously,

"My guess is that is exactly what is going on."

"Did you tell him about tonight?"

"No, but somehow that Bat knows all."

**THANK YOU for all your reviews you asterous people you~ **

**Now, I'm gonna kinda take a poll here, do you guys want to see Rob and Zatanna's date? Because after this date there is a HUGE time-skip, so shoot me a review or a message and lemme know! **

**Now, another poll type thing, are there any characters you guys want to be involved with this? I'm thinking Jason Todd will be mentioned, of course the rest of the group too, how about some Roy-Wally brotherly-like therapy time? **

**AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, how do you guys think Rob should tell Bats, I wanna see how creative ya'll are~ **

**THANK YOU AGAIN! **

***(s2 is a really stupid heart...because the other one is stupid and wont work) **


	6. Dilemas

**Let me start off with an enormous apology for not updating in a long time. I'll give you an explanation at the end if you are at all interested in the reason. **

**Enjoy~**

Dick sat across from Zatanna with a concerned look on his face. She looked as if she was about to say something every few seconds and then refrained from doing so.

"What are you going to get?" Dick finally broke the silence, Zatanna looked up at him once again, flustered,

"Huh? Oh…um I was thinking something like the Caesar Salad." Dick raised an eyebrow,

"That's it? It's kind of small…"

"It's cheaper though!" Zatanna smiled, "See if Dad always made us get something cheap and we'd share it," She looked up at him and took a sip at her water,

"Well, take this as your opportunity to finally get whatever you want!" Dick smirked, knowing that Bruce would most likely reimburse the purchase later.

"I…umm." Zatanna opened the menu back up and scanned the pages slowly, "Okay…lobster sounds amazing, but it's big."

"I'll share if you want." Dick told her putting a hand on her menu so she would look up at him,

"Really?" She smiled,

"Yeah, I'll get that Caesar Salad, you get the lobster, we can ask for a few more plats and we can share." Zatanna felt a blush move across her face,

"Always the problem solver." She chuckled and shut her menu.

"So, I gotta ask, why suddenly ask me on a date?" Dick wondered after a long swig of his coke.

"It's just what Artemis said, she kind of sparked something with that and I thought, hey! Why not!" Zatanna shrugged, "Can't hurt to try, right?" Dick nodded but didn't say anything as the girl continued, "I mean, I've kind of liked you a while and I mean it was just kind of the opening I was looking for." Dick laughed,

"I'm not approachable?" He winked, Zatanna kicked him under the table and rolled his eyes.

"Not at ALL" She giggled sarcastically.

"Oh well I send you my deepest apologies!" Dick chortled and returned the kick with a light tap on her shin.

She raised an eyebrow at the move and returned it a bit harder, this continued with the two laughing and receiving several dirty looks from the surrounding patrons.

"Good evening, are you ready to order?" A kind looking woman asked and pulled out a thin pad of paper,

The two ordered and the woman raised an eyebrow, "You scored a rich one." She winked at Zatanna, Zatanna laughed and nodded

"I certainly did." With that she leaned across the table and gripped onto Dick's hand that rest on the table.

…

A trembling hand ran through red hair as the fastest boy alive began pacing around his room cursing and swearing at himself. There was something wrong, and he knew it, maybe it was him, maybe it was Rob, maybe it was Artemis, he didn't know. But something was wrong and he wanted to know. Now. He held his phone in his hand and his fingers flashed across the keys.

**How's it going? **

He typed and sent it. Rob wouldn't mind if he asked about his innocent little date…would he? Wally honestly didn't know. He hadn't seen Dick in a while, but he was sure his friend was the same as before. He wouldn't mind a simple, stupid little question like that.

**Good. :P **

Rob typed back. Wally sat down on his bed and thumped his feet against the ground, not sure how to respond. He didn't want to pry about it, but he really needed to know what was going on with Robin now. So he shut his phone and told himself to think. Laying back against his bed he took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. His bright green eyes looked up at the spinning ceiling fan blankly. A smile crept its way onto his face when he saw a small nick on the fan. The memories flooded back to him when he remembered him and Rob laying down against his bed, having already beat several video games already, they were bored. Wally had begun the little competition and had grabbed the closest thing to him, which just so happened to be his cell phone and chucked it at the ceiling fan, attempting to get it between the spinning blades. He failed miserably and the phone struck against the wood with a thick _thunk. _Robin had laughed at him, then he had pulled out a bird-rang from his pocket. Wally remembered making a comment along the lines of "are you ever _not _Robin?" Rob had simply laughed and shrugged, then he concentrated on the spot on the ceiling that he was aiming for and threw the projectile. It successfully had struck between the blades and planted itself into the ceiling. The two sat there and laughed for a good five minutes before Wally was determined to beat him and get more things through than the boy wonder.

The older red-head shook his head at the memory and looked past the whirring blades to see the bird-rang still clinging onto the ceiling. With one final boost of confidence from the memory Wally pulled his phone in front of him and typed in,

**I'm gonna want some details nerd. **

He was happy with it and pressed "send".

**Haha, alright. :P **

With that, Wally was content and slid the phone back into his pocket, Zatanna wasn't going to hurt him, but why was he so worried.

…

"Hey, Rob, I really had fun tonight." Zatanna smiled as the two stood outside of her room in Mount Justice.

"Me too." Dick nodded and flashed her an honest grin. "Thanks for asking me." Zatanna nodded,

"Any time." She winked and went to hug him. Dick accepted it, but instead of his original plan that would happen of her simply hugging him, kissing him on the cheek, and walking away he felt his face met with soft hands. His heart leapt into his throat as he felt sweet, soft lips press against his own. It was a sweet short kiss, but still just the single touch of them simply brushing against one another made Dick's heart stop in his chest. Zatanna was serious about wanting to go out with him. She was _dead_ serious. She had just _kissed _him. Dick felt himself lean forward and almost unconsciously return the act and brush his lips against hers.

_What the hell, what the hell, what the HELL?! _He almost screamed to himself as he felt their lips touch and his hands brush gently against Zatanna's shoulders.

"Damn it." He whispered and pulled the girl away by a grip on her shoulders,

"I'm sor-" Zatanna began, taken aback by the sudden reaction. "I didn't mean…" Dick lifted a hand and turned away,

"No, I'm sorry…I just can't." He whispered over his shoulder and stormed back to his room.

Once in the safety of his room Dick slammed the door shut the best he could and locked it. He threw his glasses down against the bed and pressed himself down into the sheets of the bed with a moan of anguish.

"Crap, crap, crap!" He swore and pressed his eyes shut. He hated himself and now Zatanna would hate him. Artemis would hate him, then M'gann, then Superboy. That's just how it worked, that stupid act would cause a damn chain-reaction through the entire squad.

He needed to vent, he debated working out, but knew that everyone went to their gym when they were angry, so he might as well expect to find Zatanna there, so he quickly checked that off the list of possibilities.

He could go find Wally and ask him what to do. No, that was a horrible idea, what would he even say to the speedster? 'oh hey, yeah so I love you, but I kissed Zatanna and pretty much broke her heart by running away from her without any explanations, so yeah, what do I do now?' No way. That would end even worse.

Dick groaned to himself and rubbed at his now teary eyes, he had been having such a wonderful evening! Everything was perfect! It was two friends hanging out, then Zatanna kissed him! He kissed back! What was wrong with him? Was he subconsciously…_experimenting? _How could he do that to Zatanna. He felt like trash…complete and utter garbage. He needed someone…he needed his dad.

Yanking out his phone from his pocket, through tear-filled eyes he began dialing Bruce's number. The phone rang once, twice, three times, four times…nothing. Then Bruce's voicemail came on,

_"Hello, you have reached the voice mail of Bruce Wayne, thank you for your call, please leave your name, number, and reason for calling after the tone and I will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you." _Dick hiccupped and waited for the beep.

"B-Bruce…call me when…when you c-can p-please." He attempted to stop his crying for the message, but felt the lump in his throat as soon as he began speaking, making the message come out as choking sputters of words.

Throwing his phone onto the other side of the bed Dick rolled over, what had he done?

Opening his eyes he scrambled for his phone again, he quickly scrolled down through his contacts to the "B" names and checked "Babs" before pressing the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" Barbara's voice sounded awfully confused on the other end.

"Hi…" Dick muttered, his sobbing had ceased for the time being, leaving him with a dry throat that stung whenever he managed to speak.

"Dick? What's up?" Babs asked, still sounding a bit dumbfounded by the called, "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah." Dick replied back simply,

"Important enough to wake me up at 12, okay." Barbara sounded exhausted, Dick had almost entirely forgotten the time difference between the two places.

"Sorry, you can go back to sleep." Dick choked out and went to hang up,

"No, no kiddo, I'm up. Just shoot."

"IkissedZatanna." Dick blurted.

"You…what?"

"Kissed…Zatanna" He cursed at himself for even saying it, "Okay she kissed me first, then I kissed her back, then I ran."

"Damn, kid." Barbra whispered, "Alright, hey, you're okay." She sounded like she was attempting to give a reassuring smile, "Dick… are you crying?" She almost gasped when she heard the hiccups.

"Kinda." He blubbered, he hadn't cried in a long, _long,_ time. Why it hit him so suddenly, he'd never know. All the stress, and the successes, and the failures he had gotten from this relationship confusion with Wally were just thrown back at him and it _hurt. _Everything he'd done in the past three months were _pointless. _He had messed up his own mind and he had dragged someone else into the mixture too.

"Aw, come on hon don't cry! You're okay, hey, why don't you come over?" Dick sniffled at the reply but nodded,

"Kay…Commissioner wont mind?" He managed,

"Not at all. Now do you think you could ride your motorcycle over?"

"Gimme five minutes…" Dick mused and pressed the "end" button. Throwing himself up and out of the bed he stuffed his phone into his pockets and began making his way out of his room after placing his sunglasses on his nose and drying his eyes.

The Boy Wonder rushed through the hallways of Mount Justice going to the zeta-beam and he would be dropped off a few blocks away from Babs's house.

"Whoa!" Dick felt something cling onto his arm, he looked up to see Wally smiling down at him, "How'd it go?" He asked with a huge grin spread across his face. Dick said nothing as he buried his face into Wally's chest and wrapped his arms around his waist. "…Rob?" Wally whispered, shocked at the sudden action. Still the two just stood that with their arms wrapped around one another, with Robin shaking and trying his hardest not to cry into the speedster's chest. "Are you okay? What happened?" Wally demanded frantically. Dick shook his head and pulled away, Wally still had his hands on the smaller boy's shoulders. Dick couldn't bring himself to look up at Wally, but one hand was removed from his shoulder and placed under his chin, forcing the boy to look up at the red head. "What happened?" Wally repeated,

"I…I messed up." Dick said simply and leaned forward pressing a kiss against Wally's forehead, "Don't worry about it." He mused blankly and turned away from the stammering Wally.

"Wait! Rob!" Wally called as Robin snaked into the Zeta-beam and was gone.

…

"You really think I should tell him?" Dick asked hesitantly as he and Babs sat across from each other on her bed. Barbara nodded and leaned against the head-board.

"Bats deserves to know, and who knows, maybe admitting it will get your head straightened out." She smiled, Dick nodded again and closed his eyes before leaning back onto the flowered bed. "Dick, listen, maybe you messed up, but Zatanna will forgive you and you should forgive yourself. It was the spur of the moment. You can't blame yourself for something that probably couldn't have been avoided." The dark haired boy turned away with a frown,

"It could have been avoided. I could have not kissed back. Babs this is my fault…all of it! And what if Bruce doesn't….accept me?" Barbara blinked for a few moments before shifting her weight and moving so she was laying next to Dick, facing the ceiling.

"He will, Dick, maybe he'll take some time, maybe he'll accept you right-off-the-bat. No pun intended. But, my bets are on the second. Listen to me, honey, just listen, there is no way that he wouldn't accept you. He loves you and he chose to adopt you for a reason. He saved you and he's going to stand by you and your choices." Dick began to choke on his words as he felt the over-whelming feelings of dread, fear, and anxiety begin to bubble up through his chest, constricting the smallest movement.

"I don't…want him to only accept me because he feels he has to." He hiccupped at this and slid a hand between his face and the sheet to wipe at his blotched face.

"Dick, he's going to because he loves you." Barbara reached over and began patting Dick's back, before sitting up and letting him rest his head on her lap. "shhh" she mused and stroked his hair out of his face.

Two years ago this would have been heaven for Dick, the girl he had had a crush on for several years suddenly paying so much attention to him, them sitting together alone, her letting him put his head on her lap… But now there was nothing but the feeling of grief and the slight ping of comfort from his best friend – no, his sister. He felt slender fingers brush his hair out of his face and pull it back slightly. Another hand swept lightly across his shoulder reassuring him that she was there and was going to stay there as long as he needed her to be.

"Dick…?" Barbara asked looking down at the boy who now seemed to be completely asleep in her lap. She cracked a smile and shifted slightly so she could rest him against the pillow, "Good night, little man." She chuckled and clicked off the lights before sliding into the single bed next to him and pulling the sheets over the two of them.

...

It had been a few days since Dick had kissed his forehead, and still, whenever Wally thought about it a small spot above his eyebrow seemed to tingle at the memory. Wally groaned and kept his legs pumping underneath him. He had been jogging for almost three hours now and he was beginning to reach the verge of exhaustion. The speedster came to a light stop in front of Uncle Barry's house and quickly leapt up the steps. Entering the house he went to get himself some water,

"Hey, kiddo." Barry called from the back door as he walked in as well, sweat dripping down his face and several empty water bottles in his arms. "What's wrong?" he asked as he dumped the bottles into the sink.

"Eh." Wally responded while he peeled an over-ripe banana from the counter and began inhaling it. "Jus' a wot on mah mwind" He swallowed and threw the peel into the garbage,

"I gotcha." Barry nodded, "How's Art?" Wally shrugged,

"I don't know. I mean _she's _fine. I just don't know if _we're_ fine." He muttered going to raid the pantry.

"What do you mean?" Barry questioned softly

"I mean I kinda…started thinking about someone else a lot lately…" he began, "and Art and I just…we don't click like we used to." He ran a hand through his hair

"Someone else?" Barry demanded, "You aren't cheating on-"

"No! No, I would never do that!" Wally snapped, "I would never cheat on Artemis…" He repeated and sunk into a chair at the kitchen table,

"Then what are you doing?"

"I don't know I've been thinking of someone…_a lot…" _Wally couldn't believe the words that were spouting out of his own mouth like water pouring out of a broken faucet.

"Who?" Barry inquired moving across from him, when the boy remained silent Barry began to get nervous. He watched the facial expression of the boy turn from confusion, to exhaustion, to hate, to blank confusion once again, Barry leaned forward a bit, "Wally, who is it?" Wally opened his mouth to respond, yet he couldn't find any words to come out of his mouth. He sat there mouth agape until Barry finally began to snap his fingers at him, "Walls? Come on." He snapped again.

"Oh…I…uhh…" He took one deep breath before final spewing out the name, "Robin! I can't stop thinking about him! I mean, I know that he's a guy and everything, but I just…can't…help it! Just the way he looks at me and I can never get him out of my head! Even when I'm with Art I feel like I should be with him! I can't handle it… I don't know what to do!" The young speedster buried his head into his hands for a long while before peering up at his uncle through a slit between his fingers, Barry simply stared at his nephew in shock…did he just say, Robin?

"Rob…?" Barry asked, blinking a few times, Wally nodded, "Do you think you're-" Barry began, his mind suddenly flooding with a million thoughts per second.

"No!" Wally yelped, not wanting him to say the "g" word, hell he didn't even know what team he swung for now. He only imagined himself planted firmly on the ground in between, not budging to either side. "I'm not…It's just…Rob seems so…perfect. I mean other than the fact he's like a guy!" the red head moaned and rubbed his eyes,

"You're tired, why don't you go grab some more food and chill for a while, kay? Think this all through and we'll talk later." Barry smiled shakily and patted Wally's arm,

"You wouldn't be mad if I was…" Wally couldn't force himself to say the word.

"No, Wally, me and your Aunt would love you no mater what, gay, straight, bi, a-sexual, a sheep-person, whatever! We got your back." Wally chuckled a little and forced a smile,

"Thanks Uncle Barry." He said, and stood. He had a _lot _to think about.

…

"Hey Alfred!" Dick called once he managed to get back to Wayne manor the next morning, the butler was no where in sight, but he heard the whirring of a vacuum cleaner in one of the back rooms, so Dick decided it would be best to announce his presence himself. The butler was working in Bruce's study where, shockingly enough, the billionaire was absent. Dick knocked on the door, interrupting the quite humming that was coming from the older man. The vacuum clicked off and Alfred turned around with a smile,

"Good morning sir." He nodded at him before motioning him to sit down, "Can I assist you with something?" he asked before pulling a duster from off of the table and beginning to wipe it across the bookshelves.

"Kinda, do you know when Bruce will be back?" Dick pondered scuffing his shoe gently against the wood of the floor. Alfred raised an eyebrow,

"Not the slightest idea." He admitted and turned back to his work. Dick huffed and planted himself down in one of the large leather chairs that were around the front of Bruce's desk, "Do you need to talk?" Alfred asked, sounding a bit more like a grandfather than a butler, but the elderly man tended to do so quite often.

"Yeah." The raven haired boy leaned back in the chair and attempted to spin in it the best he could, Alfred said nothing, but motioned with the duster for the boy to continue and tell him what needed to be said, "Well…" Dick had no idea how to start, he bit the inside of his cheek and racked his brain for the simple words to configure the explanation he wanted to say, but nothing popped up in his head. "I just…" He sighed and clenched his eyes shut before running his thumb and index fingers in circles around them. "I like…someone…and" The words tumbled out of his mouth in short, choppy spurts as he struggled to find the right way to describe this. He had told it to himself hundreds of times, reminding himself every few minutes that he liked Wally, and _'oh Wally would love that!' _and _'I wonder when I could text Wally without it being weird?' _and most frequently _'why the hell did I kiss him?'_ still all better options to use in an explanation then the drabble that was pouring from his mouth, "I think I like someone, and I don't think Bats will be happy with me if I told him I liked them!" He finally spewed out covering his face with his hands, waiting for Alfred's rebuttal, the butler merely said "ahhhh" and began thinking,

"No, Master Dick, is it Batman we are worried about…Or Bruce Wayne?" Dick looked up at him,

"Huh?"

"Who are you afraid to tell? The Batman or Bruce Wayne?" Dick hadn't thought of that, typically he thought of him as one-in-the-same. There was no Batman or Bruce Wayne, it was pretty much just "dad" or "dad-figure" to be more specific.

"I…don't know."

"Well, I think Bruce Wayne would tell you that, he doesn't mind _who _you like, so long as you go about it appropriately. While Batman, may say something along the lines of 'duty comes first'. So, who is it that you are so afraid to tell?"

"Both." Dick mumbled, "I don't think either will be too happy." Alfred raised an eyebrow, seeing as his little speech didn't work.

"Now, I must ask, who is it that you wish to hide from Master Bruce?" Dick's voice caught in his throat,

"…KF." Was all he could manage, he couldn't say Wally, or Kid Flash, no, just two little letters. But those two little letters were enough. Alfred looked over at him,

"Wallace?" He asked, Dick only nodded, "Ah, this is a tricky one." Dick blinked, what, no rage? No instantly telling Bruce? No drama over it? Just…calm and collected thinking…Why should he have expected any less from the butler of the Bat? Alfred had probably seen and heard everything…why would that surprise him?

"Yeah, I just don't know, how he'll handle it." Dick murmured and rubbed his hand across his forehead, "I mean I was talking to Babs and she said he'd be fine with it…but…I don't know." He frowned and leaned over to place his elbows onto his knees, cupping his head into his hands

"Well you wont know until you tell him." Alfred shrugged simply, "But I believe I agree with Miss. Barbara." He chipped in before collecting his cleaning tools and stowing them into a large leather bag. Dick simply nodded and didn't budge from his position. He needed to talk to Bats…how was he going to survive?

…

"Bruce?" Dick asked and peeked in through the elevator doors leading down to Batcave. "Bruce, are you here?" He called again, stepping onto the metal floors. Looking around the enormous cave, he fumed once he saw that there was no one in the space to respond back to him. He walked over to a chair in front of the monitor and slumped into the soft leather. "Where is he?" He grumbled and flipped out his cell phone, before pressing the "1" button, he ransacked his mind to think of where else he might be. With a quick yelp of remembrance, he leapt up and bolted to the elevator, maybe Bruce was in his room. It was a long shot, but it was worth a shot.

The elevator had reached the floor Dick was looking for and his stomach dropped. If Bruce was in there, he would be admitting everything he'd been unsure about for the past few months. He was going to announce something that could ruin their father-son relationship. He bit his lip and slowed his pace. No, no, no, no, no he couldn't do this. He came to a full stop once he reached the outside of Bruce's door.

"Please be asleep, please be asleep! Please don't wake up!" He winced and pushed the door open. Dick let out a shaky breath of relief once he saw Bruce passed out on his bed, still half in his suit from that day. Smiling to himself he stepped out of the room and shut the door again.

He'd talk to Bats later.

…

**Hey. **Wally sent the text with a lump in his throat. There was almost a instant response from the girl.

_**Hi **_Artemis responded,

**Wanna chill? I need to tell you something. **Wally sent and clenched his eyes shut. What was he doing? How could he do this to Artemis? He felt low, like scum, like a horrible person, but he needed to do this. He needed to.

_**Sure! Haha**_ _**should I be worried? **_Wally groaned at this, yes, she should be worried. Very, very, very worried.

**Lol. Meet yah at the park in 10? **

_**Okay. **_Wally stood up and slowly moved to the mirror to assure he looked presentable. He wasn't going to be able to do it. He loved her too much. Maybe it was because he loved her so much that he had to do this. Put some space between them. He felt his stomach tie into itself thousands of times as he began to move out of his house. When he reached the door he felt a hand on his shoulder,

"Are you sure?" Barry asked him, he face completely blank and serious for maybe the first time ever.

"No." Wally answered,

"Then why are you doing it?"

"I don't want to hurt her." Wally whispered as he clutched the doorway.

"Doing this so suddenly _will _hurt her." Barry said back, his voice still dull and harsh, like a blade.

"Quick like a band-aid." Wally choked back, trying his hardest to keep his voice and emotions in check so he didn't lash out at his uncle.

"Do you love her, Wallace?" He muttered to his red-headed son.

"More than anything in this world. But I have to do this… At least until I'm sure about her." Wally's head spun and he was suddenly second guessing himself. What if Barry was right, would he be ruining everything? Artemis was perfect in his eyes, she was someone, as strange as it sounded, but someone he could imagine living the rest of his life with, getting married to, and maybe even having kids with someday. He could be ruining this, destroying this possibility entirely. Could he ruin it and ruin the life they could have lived together.

"Then why?" Wally couldn't answer.

"I'm not sure where I stand, and I don't want her to suffer because of that." He snapped, he love Artemis, but he loved Robin too. Robin, the boy who had been his best friend for years, that he didn't even know his first name, his last name, his fathers name, his past…anything about him. How could he love someone that he knew less about than a stranger?

"Just…think while you head there, kay?" Barry gave in, sliding away from behind Wally, he walked back into the kitchen where Wally could hear his Aunt ask him 'how the talk went'. Wally felt horrible raising his voice at his uncle, but…he was going through a million thoughts at the moment and it was taking its toll.

Think…think…think about what he was doing? How could he do that? There were too many thought gnawing at him from every angle, every perspective. He knew what he had to do.

**Before I start excuses, REVIEW, PLEASE. Reviews are what keeps me going and what reminds me that I DO indeed have a story going on, **

**Review and I'll love you forever PLUS I'll throw in a bonus: Tell me what ya'll want to see happen between Artemis and Robin. Do you want interactions between them? A fight? A silent hatred? Spontaneous best friends? Other titles? Lemme know!**

**So, next chapter is going to be filled with ups and downs and left and right turns and craziness. So, be prepared. **

**Now, if you guys care at all what my sorry excuse is for being so late here I go. I'm an actress, and I was recently in a play, it took up my time all week from pretty much 6 in the morning to 9 at night, so when I got home I was exhausted, did homework, passed out and started all over again. This week was the performance of it, so I've been distracted with that. Now, I'm in rehearsals for ANOTHER play, but don't worry, both school and the musical are on a bit of a hiatus after this week…but then I have a con and some more vacationing, but in those car rides I shall type! **

**SO that's my excuse….accept it or don't…I'm VERY sorry either way**


	7. Dangers

**Okay…once again I am the worst person in this entire world and I don't deserve the love I'm getting because I can never update. **

**Forgive me and enjoy~**

Chapter 7

The boy wonder paced in front of his bed and ran his hand through his hair, Bruce was home. He wasn't working, he wasn't on a call…there was no reason he couldn't just go down to the dining room and talk to him. How would he say it? He couldn't think of any way that wouldn't end horribly with him ass first out on the street. He could go out and be blunt, or maybe just kind of hint at it and see if Bat noticed. He could even drag it out through a couple of days, like do small little hints here and there over the week. He huffed and planted himself down onto the sheets of his bed, how would he do this?

Dick's phone suddenly buzzed, causing the Boy Wonder to raise a slender eyebrow. He wasn't usually text so early in the morning. Looking at the name he found himself to be even more surprised by the name flashing across the screen. "**Kid Flash" **He lifted his phone and pressed the phone to his ear.

"H-hey…" Wally choked from the other line, "You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here, KF are you okay?" Dick demanded Kid's voice trembled as he responded,

"I…I think I need to break up with Art." He gasped on the other line Dick's heart leapt into his throat as he struggled for words and the room began to practically swirl around him,

"W-why?" He managed, "What did she do?" He could heard Kid's shaky breathes from the other line,

"Nothing! _She _didn't do anything…I did." Dick knitted his eyebrows together and sat up on his bed, crossing his legs one over the other.

"What did you do?!" He demanded almost instantly as he shifted his weight out of impatience. Wally sighed and paused,

"It's complicated," was all he could muster, Dick didn't respond with anything other than a 'uh huh', telling him to continue, "I mean…I don't know, I'm confused and I don't want to end up hurting Art." _Break up with her! Do it! Just do it! _Dick's mind rang out, prodding him to agree with Wally, and to tell him that it was okay to break up with her.

"Wally, do you love her?" Dick choked out, his voice catching in his throat as he pushed out the words,

"Of course." Wally said back instantly, "I love her, so much." Dick couldn't believe the words that he was spouting out as he consoled his friend,

"Well then, what's so confusing? Man, You love her. She loves you. Throw everyone and everything else aside and then you'll know, if you can't throw the other person aside, then maybe you _are _falling away from her. But Walls, for now, don't. That's my opinion, who knows what she'll do if you change your mind and want her back, man." Dick cursed silently at himself as the words tumbled from his mouth. There was no filter, no time to take the words back before they reached the speedster's ears. He had just thrown Wally, willingly, back into Artemis's arms. Why in the world would he do that? Oh yeah, he had never seen Wally so happy…and seeing Wally happy made him happy. He could only imagine the depression that Wally would have fallen into had he and Artemis separated.

Wally huffed from the other line,

"…I guess." Was all he could say, "Damn it Rob, what's wrong with me?" He whispered,

"Nothing Wals, absolutely nothing." Dick forced a smile into his voice, although he could already feel the tears bubbling up around his eyes.

"Thanks Rob, I love you man." Wally seemed to beam from the other line,

"I love you too, dude." Rob chuckled, "Go get 'er." He added before Wally hung up, leaving Dick alone and confused.

Again.

…

"Wally!" Artemis waved from where she was sitting on a swing. Wally raised his free hand and jogged up to her,

"Hey babe." He smiled pecking her on the cheek. She blushed and hugged him before sitting back against the swing, Wally sat on the swing next to her and pulled a single red rose from behind his back. Artemis raised an eyebrow and laughed,

"What's this?" she questioned and moved to accept the extended flower,

"A present! Am I not allowed to give presents to my leading lady?"

"You're such an idiot!" Artemis laughed and socked him on the arm, "But thank you, I love it." She leaned across the swing set and pressed her lips against his,

"Worth it!" Wally winked at her as she pulled away, Artemis rolled her eyes and hit him with the flower,

"Oh shut up!"

"Hey you just got two presents girl, I only got one! Just goes to show how generous I am."

"Pssh, yeah right." The girl rolled her eyes and let Wally slip his hand into hers as they swung.

"Hey Wally, what did you want to talk about?" Artemis suddenly asked as a sweet, comfortable silence fell over the two.

"Huh, ah, I just… the flower. I got it and I didn't want it to wilt before I could get it to you!" He quickly lied, "No biggy. That and I wanted to grace you with my presence."

"Oh? I call bull shit on that last one. I'm gracing YOU with my presence." She said bluntly, Wally shook his head,

"Nah, I'm obviously the best company."

"Prove it." Artemis challenged,

"Well if you would direct your attention to the 'gift chart', you have obviously received the most! Meaning that I am just such amazing company that I present you with gifts."

"Or are you just repaying me for my amazing company?" Artemis teased and sent a wink over at him,

"Well you're too damn expensive then!" Wally laughed, "But very worth it."

…

Dick couldn't think, he could properly function with everything on his mind. Wally had just nearly broken up wit Artemis, and he _still _needed to come out of the closet to Bruce…okay…now, he'd do it now. Dick stood up from his bed and then plopped back down. He needed help figuring this out.

**Wally, can I ask you something?**

Dick typed out the text, but quickly deleted it. No, he couldn't ask Wally how to come out of the closet, Wally didn't even know Dick was gay! Now…who the hell could he ask? Babs was grounded so no phone there. Alfred would just tell him to walk up to him and say it. Who was good with words? Who was good with breaking news easily? M'gann wouldn't work, she wouldn't understand. Neither would Kaldur or Conner…he was left no choice…

…

**Hey, umm I know this is random but you're the only one I think I can trust with this. Could you help me with something please? **

_**Yeah, sure, what is it? **_

**Are you with Wally right now? **

_**No, he just left. What's up?**_

**I don't really know how to put this…**

Artemis's mind jumped to a million conclusions are the Boy Wonder text her, did he like her? Did he kill someone? Was this some horrible secret that she would be targeted if she knew? She gulped as she continued to type.

_**Just spit it out dude. **_

**I need to kind of…tell Bats something and I have no idea how. Like at all. **

_**Oh okay, what is it?**_

**You wont tell anyone? Ever? **

_**Promise. **_

**Artemis…I think I'm gay. **

Artemis nearly dropped her phone when she received the text, Wally shot her a look from besides her while the two sat on the grass, she starred at the phone in confusion and disbelief, Robin? The Boy Wonder? He was… her mind couldn't wrap around it. But he had gone on a date with Zatanna, he flirted with so many girls and he just was so…straight.

_**Oh. **_

Was the best she can manage. She didn't know what else she could possibly muster to say to the boy.

**Yeah…I just…didn't know who else to go to with this and I mean, I don't know how to tell bats… **

_**Oh. Alright, well I mean you could kind of lead up to it! Like spark a conversation on the topic! Or wait until he brings up crushes! Or bring up crushes or something! Wait…how do you know? **_

"Art, who are you talking to?" Wally asked, "Hello, Earth to Artemis! Hellloooo!"

"Huh? Oh, M'gann." She said, "She needed help on some problem with Conner I guess. Stupid stuff like spending more time with Wolf then her or something like that. " Wally nodded,

"Cool, tell her 'hi' for me!" Artemis nodded and waited for Robin to answer,

**A lot of reasons. **

Was all she got back, no explanation, no anything. He was so blunt. Well the Boy Wonder never was one for detailed explanations, short, sweet, to the point, that's how he worked.

_**Alright, I guess just kind of bring those reasons up, okay? **_

**I'll try, hey, Artemis, thanks. **

_**You're welcome. You better tell me how it goes okay? And Rob, I got your back. **_

…

Dick felt a little more comfortable having told someone and once again having them be so accepting. Now he just needed to confront the bat.

…

Bruce was sitting at the kitchen table, finishing up a cup of coffee and a waffle as Dick entered, his heart pounded in his chest and he felt light headed. Still, he forced his feet to shuffle across the wooden floors of the dining room and bobbed his head in the direction of the Dark Knight. Bruce looked utterly exhausted, his short black hair was in a fluffy mess on the top of his head and he had dark bags stretching under his eyes. He rubbed his stubbled chin once before returning to the newspaper that he held in his hands.

"Morning." Bruce nodded at him. Dick nodded in returned and took a seat across from him, "Heh, Batman Causes More Controversy, we just can't escape the head lines can we?" He said up at his young ward. Dick nodded,

"Anything about the good ol' Boy Wonder?" he asked with an attempt at a smile. Bruce raised his eyebrows but scanned through the paper,

"Yeah, something about child labor and you being too young…" He muttered and then returned to his coffee and waffles. Dick sat there in silence, waiting to see if Bruce would strike up anymore conversation that could undoubtedly prolong the inevitable. Once Dick realized he would have no such luck he went for it,

"Hey." He smiled, "Umm Bruce can we talk about something?" The boy's guardian looked up at the boy with a spark of confusion in his light eyes. The simple look of Bruce's eyes relaxed him a bit, not much, but a bit. The Boy Wonder actually felt as if he was speaking to Bruce Wayne in comparison to The Batman. The soft look of his eyes gave the boy a bit more confidence.

"Go ahead." He nodded, "Is something wrong?" Bruce asked when Dick hesitated.

"Well, I just, I mean, I kind of needed to tell you something." He mustered and sat back uncomfortably in his chair,

"Okay, I'm all ears" Bruce nodded to him, Dick's head spun as he thought of how he could say this, it felt like anything he could say would get him hated, he didn't want to be hated. Not by Bruce.

"I just…it's kind of hard to say." Dick choked, "I mean, I know what I want to say, it's just I don't know how to word it…"

"Dick, what did you do?"

"Nothing! I didn't do anything!" Dick shook his head, "Okay so it's like, I've been thinking for a really long time and it's just, I can't really think of any other way to put this, crap, why is this so hard?" Bruce raised an eyebrow, urging him to go on, "Alright, I've, you know, been doing a lot of thinking and it's just kind of been in the back of my mind for a really long time and I just kind of figured everything out, I think, but it's still all really complicated and I don't know what to do, or how to even tell you, because I mean, I don't want you to be mad at me or anything! I mean I honestly was so scared of telling you, why did I say that? Whatever, I mean I didn't know how you were gonna take it or I mean if I could even tell you without dying. Bruce, I feel like I'm gonna die. Damn it! …sorry… darn it…why is this so hard?" Dick continued to babble as Bruce simply sat there unblinkingly. The bat finally sighed and put his hand up, getting almost immediate silence from his frantic side-kick.

"It's alright Dick, what is it?" Dick groaned and threw his head into his hands,

"I don't was you to be mad when I tell you."

"I wont be mad." Dick peeked out from his hands and saw the genuine face of the bat. No, he wasn't the bat right now, he was Bruce, thank _God _it was Bruce and not the Bat he was telling.

"Fine…" Couldn't he just go back to babbling? To just never say what he started to say. He looked back at Bruce's calm face, nope, now he _had _to tell. "Okay so, you know how I went out on a date with Zatanna the other day?" Dick asked Bruce nodded,

"Yeah, Dick…did … _something _happen?" Dick blushed and shook his head,

"Oh ew no! I mean, she like kissed me and stuff right, but I mean I kind of freaked out, yeah? Because I mean…I kinda… don't like her…" He tried, wincing to see if Bruce would take the bait.

"You mean you lead on a girl that you didn't like?" Bruce said, almost angrily. "Was it to make someone jealous?"

"NO! I mean, I thought I liked her but I don't…I guess I found that out when she kissed me. Well, okay I guess I kind of knew that in the back of my head somewhere, but I guess it kind of just got confirmed by that." Bruce took a sip of his coffee and nodded,

"Then what is it you're going to tell me, Dick?" Bruce demanded, Dick winced as he saw the softer look of Bruce Wayne beginning to turn into Over-Protective-Daddy-Mode.

"I mean…I kind messed up with her, right?" Bruce nodded,

"I would say so."

"Well I mean, I like, totally didn't mean to! It's just I'm not into her and I didn't want to hurt her like I did because she really –"

"Dick, who _do _you like then? Because I don't see what's wrong with Zatanna, I thought you liked her for a while now."

"I did! But I mean, I kinda changed my mind about…something a while ago and I guess my head didn't catch up with it fast enough and…"

"Who, Dick?"

"Bruce I don't think you understand! It's not just something I can go out and say, and shi-shoot…why did I even start this?" Dick muttered dipping his head and beginning to drum his fingers against the wood of the table. Batman trained him better than this! He was trained to work out high stress situations like this! He was trained to be able to formulate his words so that he could get his point across quick and not get killed! Why was this so hard?

Oh yes…it hit him now, he was Dick Grayson right now, he wasn't Robin. Richard John Grayson had never been taught how to put together his words so he wouldn't get shot, or to outwit some of the greatest minds in Gotham…he knew how to do a flip on a trapeze and how to talk during weird dinner parties with Bruce's so-called 'friends'.

"Dick…" Bruce began before both of them heard the sing-song tune of Bruce's phone go off in his pocket. Sighing the man scooted back a bit and looked at the caller I.D. "Clark… Damn, alright I gotta take this." Bruce said and flipped open the phone "This is-"

"IThinkILikeWally." Dick sputtered and buried his face into his palms, Bruce nearly dropped his phone.

"…what?" Bruce demanded flabbergasted as he flipped his phone shut and set it on the table. "One more time?" He sputtered

"I…Bruce I think…Okay, Bruce, I'm gay. I like Wally, and yeah…" Dick finally mustered. He winced as he delivered the news, not wanting to see Bruce's face taking the news. _I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. _Was all Dick could think as Bruce took a sip of his coffee and sat there blinking,

"You're…and you like…okay…." He breathed before standing up, and saying nothing else, left the room. Dick sat there dumbstruck and broken-hearted. This stung almost worse than if Bruce had slapped him across the face and told him to leave. The Bat had said _nothing. _He had just left…what did that even mean?

…

Dick sat up in bed, having already text Artemis what happened, he was alone again. It was nearing eleven and Bruce had left a while ago for some call or another. Dick didn't even get invited…No warning, nothing. He didn't even feel like he would be able to ever put on his Robin uniform and work side by side with the Batman again.

"Master Dick?" Alfred's calm voice requested from the other side of the large oak door.

"Ye-yeah?" Dick asked wiping at his teary eyes.

"Your presence is requested in the cave, Master Bruce says you're late for patrol." Dick blinked, and scrambled off of his bed, swinging open the door with his shirt already half unbuttoned.

"He…he isn't mad at me?" He demanded when he came face to face with the butler,

"He shall be if you aren't out soon." Alfred tutted and motioned him forward, "I suggest you talk about it though. It would be best to clear this fog, would it not?" Dick smiled up at the elderly man,

"Thanks, Alfred." He beamed as he bolted towards the Batcave.

"Hey Bats, sorry I'm late!" Dick called into the cave. Shockingly enough it was empty. He blinked and heard his earpiece buzz to life,

"_Robin, I'm on the South Side on a burglary. There is a mugging in progress off of Main Street, I want you to handle it." _Dick puffed out his cheeks, they were on the total opposite sides of town, Bruce obviously needed some thinking space.

"_Gotcha." _Dick said into the earpiece and hopped onto the R-cycle.

…

"Oh hoho? Where's Mommy Bat, little birdie?" A familiar cackle let out once Robin had reached the scene of the supposed mugging.

"_there goes a simple mugging…_He's going to get some other worm." Robin snapped back, turning himself around, attempting to see where the Joker was hiding, "Looks like you'll have to settle for me." There was a long drawn out cackle from one of the tops of a building on Robin's right. The Boy Wonder flipped to face it, but was met with nothing,

"Oh no, he left his little egg unprotected! How's about we make an omelet then!" Joker wailed and jumped down, planting a kick firmly into Robin's back. "Yah see…" Joker began as Robin spun around and sent his foot flying at him, the attack was dodged easily as he continued "There's a new exhibit there at the museum, a pretty, pretty little toy! I just wanted my hands on it for a little play date~ but then, this poor little man wanted some money!" The laughs began ringing out through the speech, "So my guys just thought it would be a good idea to have a little fun with him!" The yellow smile of the Joker was suddenly in front of Robin as the boy felt a punch land thickly into his stomach. He coughed, but gripped the fist. He leaned in and shoved his shoulder into Joker's collarbone, and using the fist now firmly planted in his own stomach he used the momentum and flipped the Joker over his shoulder.

The agile man slithered away and managed to jump out of the hold. Robin spun around to meet his kick with his own forearm. He felt a bruise suddenly begin to form where there was contact and he leapt back,

"You said something about your men! Where'd they go? Too chicken to play Chicken?" Robin scoffed, Joker cackled and spun back planting his palm on the ground and lashing out at Robin's jaw with his foot. There was brief contact with Robin's nose as the sidekick stumbled back.

"They're just playing hide-n-seek!" was the giggled response. Robin's eyebrows pulled together, attempting to figure out what he meant and gain some balance. Yet before he could make another move, arms the size of his entire torso snagged around him and lifted him off the ground.

…

When Robin came to he was bound and gagged in some dark dank room. He felt his heart beating at a million miles an hour as he frantically struggled to get some sort of bearings on his location. Soon enough he realized he was blindfolded and had managed to get the bandana off from around his eyes by moving his eyebrows.

Cursing, Robin pulled himself up a bit and blinked, he couldn't see two inches in front of himself, "Damn it" He swore and struggled to get his hands out from behind his back. Sliding his feet through the loop made by his arms he was able to wriggle so the arms were in front of him.

"Ah looks like our little Robin finally woke up from his little nap." The Joker's crackling voice shrilled from an intercom somewhere in the room, suddenly, as the man's voice rang up the lights of the room flicked on. Robin blinked and rubbed his eyes to quickly adjust them. When he was finally able to see he squinted into the light and looked around to find himself inside of a glass case being held up with a single chain over what he only could assume was something that would be extremely painful...oil…he smelt olive oil. Fantastic.

Robin said nothing as the Joker appeared from a door on the opposite side of the room, his permanent smile cracking all the way across his face as he danced across the tiles, leaping around machinery like a child on a playground.

"Do you like this little set up? I had it all set up for some boring ol' politician but, why not let the little birdie take the first swim? Maybe a dip in the fryer will cook me up some good chicken wings, huh?" Joker was now near the glass case, Robin followed him with careful eyes as the psychopath bounded around the vat that held the oil.

"Hope you have a lot of ketchup, I don't think I taste to good." Robin spat back, "A little gamey." He added, "Not a lot of meat" He shrugged again, holding up one of his slender arms and spinning it around as if to showcase the skinniness of the appendage.

"Oh it's not for me! My little puppies want a treat." He cackled and then whistled, the call summoned three hyenas from the room the Joker had just been in. The animals ran at full speed towards the whistling man, only stopping when the call ceased. Joker pointed up at the Boy Wonder and grinned, "Now little puppies, how does the Boy Blunder look? Nice and tasty?" He questioned, Robin gulped, he didn't underestimate the insanity of this man, he knew in a few minutes, regardless of what he said or did, he would be plummeting, most likely face first, into a vat of boiling olive oil, and then his charred remains would be taken out and fed to some meat-crazed hyenas.

"Are you sure you aren't going to want a piece?" Robin asked, attempting to stall

"Me? Oh no, no, no. These boys are far too hungry for me to even pluck off one of your little toes." Robin huffed, and frantically searched for another question to distract the man with,

"What do you think the Bat would taste like?" He quickly asked, hoping that the Bat in question would be finding him soon. If he even knew, or cared that he was gone.

"Most likely beef. I'm betting chicken in your case." Was the cackled response,

"What about Harley?!" Robin demanded, "What would she taste like?" This confused the Joker for a bit as he leaned against a large crate to ponder,

"Are we talking something you would know the taste of?" The mad-man questioned, Robin nodded,

"Yeah, I gotta be able to know kind of the gist." This received a glance from the man,

"I bet, ham." Robin nodded,

"And Catwoman?"

"Cat."

"Penguin?"

"Duck."

"Scarecrow?"

"Dirt."

"Killer Croc?"

"Really, kiddo, does that one need explanation?"

"Umm… Firefly?"

"Like a beetle." Robin was running out of names and fast, he flashed through his records of villains or other heroes the Joker would have had an encounter with and listed them off, getting very twisted, very sadistic responses each time. Eventually though, Robin couldn't think of anyone else to even consider asking about,

"Are we about done lamb chop, because the puppies are getting a bit…feisty." Robin broke out into an instant sweat when he realized he was stumped, there was no more he could say or do that could distract the Joker. Batman wasn't coming. He was going to die. _Please, oh please, make it quick. _Robin prayed. Then he remembered something,

"So! If I'm going to die here, can I at least get a run through of how this thing works?" Robin asked, Joker blinked but obliged,

"I suppose that would only be common courtesy." He shrugged, "Very curious kid you are, always asking the news making questions. Have you even considered being a reporter? Maybe you wouldn't have ended up trapped in a glass case, but at least you could have shared your questions with a bit bigger audience, huh?"

"Considered it." Was all that Robin could choke out, his mind was working at a million miles an hour, and without his utility belt, or his gloves, or his boots, he was left with very little option of tools. Fishing into his pant-leg he managed to snag onto a small wire he kept in his pocket for emergencies. Frankly this was quite the emergency.

Robin wrapped the around his hand, the sharp edges biting into his skin, but it would be worth it if he could manage an escape with it. He tied a loop on one end of the wire flashing looks over at the Joker who he supposed was still on a very long tangent about how he wanted to be a reporter, no now he was on something about a tattoo artist.

Eyeing the length and with of a pipe that looked sturdy enough from his point of view to hold his weight without breaking, the Boy Wonder was ready. He hoped.

**A lot is happening! Dick finally told Bats, is that a Dick and Artemis friendship in the making? Why would Artemis lie to Dick about Wally being there? Is Wally totally over Dick now? And now Robin is in some deep shit! **

**What do you think? **

**Okay, so today was my birthday~ well yesterday…now…it's midnight so yes, yesterday! So I wanted to give you a treat for that! It's not a amazingly long beautiful chapter but it's leading into stuff and important stuff…I was gonna have the time skip in this chapter but I didn't…**

**Connichiwa was this weekend (it's a con I go to every year) and so yeah…I was busy with that … I have no excuse…I'm a horrible person.**

**BUT really, reviews DO help me write faster, as soon as I get a review I crank out a couple pages so REVIEW I'll love you forever.**

**Alright a little prompt for this weeks reviews… How do YOU think Bruce/Bats is going to take Dick's news? Is he gonna be cool with it? Or will he never forgive him? Or what? **

**AND question number two, how is Dick going to escape from the Joker? Or will he? **

**What do you think? **


	8. Delusions

**SO! A lot happens in this chapter! The time skip happens here, it's kind of random but you know…yeah. **

**Warnings: Language in this one. Lots of arguing and yelling. Romantic stuff. Violence. You've been warned. **

**Enjoy!**

Robin held his breath as Joker ranted on about how the contraption worked, he kept his grip tight around the wire in his hands and began to tone in the best he could to hear how exactly the machine worked. So far he heard that once Joker pressed a button in the other room the bottom of the cage would split open from the crease in the middle. From that Robin would take the ten foot plunge into the boiling oil. Once he was 7 feet away from it his hair would start burning, when he was 5 feet away his clothes would start melting and sizzling, when he was 3 feet away his skin would blister and when he was 1 foot away, the jumping bubbles would hit and remove skin as soon as it touched. All this would happen in a matter of maybe half a second. This was not going as planned.

He had to think fast and act fast once the bottom of the cage opened up. Hell, he had to act before the cage opened.

"And just so you know, and you don't get any ideas. That glass breaks and the bottom automatically opens." Joker smirked. Shit. There was no way he could get out of this. He would be boiled alive. Well, even if he did live from then on he would have no desire to eat fried foods.

Taking in one slow, shaky breath Robin realized it was now or never as the Joker began to waltz into the other room. Robin couldn't bust through the glass and swing out like he planned but he could attempt to do something. In the center of the floor of the cage there was a small crack. This crack was skinny enough to fit the wire through with little difficulty. Robin slipped the wire through and let it get close enough to the oil to begin melting. Quickly he drew it up. Wiping the sweat from his brow he attached the melted end of the wire to the side of the glass and let the two mend together from the heat. He did the same thing to several others, leaving him sitting on one very little, very fragile, very invisible chair.

Just as planned the Joker announced his final farewells and the bottoms opened. Robin bit his lip as he felt his weight being transitioned from the entire bottom of the glass to a few simple wires. Heat blared up at him as he swung himself around so he was hanging by only his legs and then flipped away from the vat. He stuck the landing for a few moments before staggering back and brushing his back against the vat of oil. Pain seared through his already bruised and bleeding back causing him to leap forward, only to be met by an onslaught of the Joker's goons.

The lead mad man was fuming in the control room, demanding how the hell the bird had floated. It was then that Robin realized he wasn't fuming he was laughing… leave it to the joker to be ecstatic that the little birdie had survived his death trap.

Lurching forward once again as several goons reached for him, Robin had yet to gather any stable ground beneath him. Swearing he hardly managed to dodge another swing as an enormous fist was swung inches from his face. The Boy Wonder barely dodged the next few attacks before he was pulled from behind and thrown back against the ground. Letting out a sputter when he struck the ground he felt another instance of sever streaks of pain riding up his spine where he was burned. Crying out he rolled to his side to dodge a foot the size of his head.

Cackling rang out from behind him, meaning that the Joker was once again joining the party. Several beads of sweat began to drip over Robin's eyes through the mask as he worked to dodge on coming attacks. But once again he found himself grabbed by the ankle and thrown against a large steel door. Robin's head slammed back into the metal causing his vision to blur and for a sudden wave of nausea attack him.

Strong hands wrapped around his shoulders as he fell to the floor and pinned him to the wall. Struggling to free himself was utterly futile as his head began lolling down into his chest and his vision was filled with nothing but blurs.

"Little Birdie tried to fly away, huh?" Joker pretended to sound utterly disappointed, "Clip his wings." He grumbled. Robin could do nothing but blink as he was thrown over one of Joker's lackey's shoulder.

They were nearly back to the vat of oil when Robin began to feel his body again, he was able to absentmindedly bite deep into the hand that was holding him, forcing it to loose hold of him giving Robin enough time to squirm out of the grasp and land on the floor safely. Booking it towards the control room, where he assumed his utility belt was being held, he dodged several goons before kicking the door open.

No one was inside the room and Robin took this as an opportunity to slam the door shut, lock it, and begin searching for his belt. There was only a time frame about 20 seconds long before the goons busted their way through the door, so Robin worked fast.

He found the bright yellow belt slung over a chair across the room from where he came in. As soon as he pressed the homing device in the center a goon that had broken his way through the door snagged him from behind. Robin was running on empty as he struggled to get out of the grasp. He was thrown back into one of the controls; the front screen of the console shattered and Robin fell into severed cables below. Suddenly there was a jolt of electricity flying through him as he was pressed into the control booth. Opening his mouth as the electricity raged through him he released a shattering scream.

The pain meshed with the wounds he had already gotten and became too much. With one last fight for consciousness and freedom Robin felt himself slip under into the blackness.

…

Robin's eyes fluttered open after what felt like days of being unconscious. Glancing around he saw that he was no longer in the Joker's lair but in the Batcave. The boy attempted to crack a smile at the familiar surroundings but found this impossible.

His eyes flashed around the room as he attempted to get his bearings, he was alone, that much was for sure. But he was safe. Closing his eyes again he let out a sigh and finally forced the crooked grin onto his lips. He had survived. Somehow, against all odds, he had lived. Regardless of the unimaginable pain he had suffered he came through. Now the only question remaining was, how the hell did he get into the Batcave?

As if to answer his question, Batman walked in from one of the doors leading to a library his cowl pulled off of his face revealing a very worried Bruce.

"Dick, how do you feel?" He asked, Robin blinked and shrugged,

"I've been better" A very shaky voice answered, "What happened?" Robin mustered as he closed his eyes once again against the bright lights of the Batcave.

"You somehow managed to hit the homing device in your belt and when you didn't answer your radio I guessed something was wrong and followed the signal to you. Somehow you managed to get away from Joker and I found you in an alley curled up by a dumpster." Robin nodded, he didn't remember ninety percent of that,

"You saved me…so you don't hate me?" He asked, obviously if the bat had come to find him, he must not _hate _him.

"Hate you? Dick, why would you think I hated you?" Bruce pulled a chair over to the side of the bed and sat,

"I don't know, I just thought that maybe after what I told you, you wouldn't… accept me anymore." Bruce chuckled a bit,

"Dick, I don't hate you, I was just shocked." It was Robin's turn to let out a horse chuckle,

"It _was_ kind of sudden…" he agreed, "I just…didn't know when to tell you."

"I'm just glad you finally told me." Bruce told him and stood up. He leaned over and brushed a bit of the boy's hair out of his face before moving to pick him up, "Why don't we move you to your room? Sound good?" Robin nodded and allowed the man to gently lift him up, avoiding the bruises and burns that lined his side and back as he brought him into his arms.

Once they had reached Dick's room he had changed out of his uniform and took off his mask, both were horribly tattered and would most likely need replacing. Dick got himself adjusted in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt once Bruce had left him.

…

He was in pain, oh yes, he was in pain, but for some reason he didn't register that he was as he lay on his bed, stomach down. Now he just wanted Wally to come-

"Rob are you okay?!" The speedster yelped as he threw open the door, "Bats called me and told me what happened and…whoa…dude you aren't wearing your shades…" Wally stammered and came to sit next to the bed. Dick blushed and rolled back onto his back. This proved to be a horrible idea as one of the burns got rubbed in the process and caused him to yelp in pain. Wally lurched forward and grabbed him, lifting him so his back was against the pillow without striking any of his burns.

"Hi…" Dick smiled looking over at Wally through his bangs. Wally blinked and starred into his eyes for a few moments.

"Wow…you have like, really pretty eyes." He gawked as he sat next to him. Dick blushed a deep red and turned away a bit.

"Thanks…" He muttered, "Oh and umm it's Richard by the way Richard Grayson, but everyone just kinda calls me Dick." Wally blinked again,

"Yeah, I didn't see that one coming." He whispered, "I always thought it was like Robert or something…" the speedster mumbled. Dick watched as the boy talked to himself with great fascination. He shifted a little bit closer before Wally looked up.

As he looked up the two found their faces only a few inches apart. Dick bit his lip and attempted to fight leaning forward and kissing the boy, but before he could shift himself backwards a hand slithered up around his neck and pressed his face forwards.

Dick felt his lips crash into Wally's and he gasped at the impact. Yet slowly he felt his eyes close as he pulled himself closer to the boy. The Boy Wonder lifted his hands up and tangled them within the fiery red hair in front of him, pulling Wally even closer towards him.

…

Wally didn't know what he was doing in that moment, Rob just looked so small, so cute and perfect just sitting there. To top that his eyes were gorgeous, the most beautiful thing he believed he had ever seen in his entire life. It was a shade of blue that looked sexy and still so gentle and welcoming that he just felt like he could fall into them.

Without even thinking he realized how close their faces were and leaned forward. His lips brushed against Robin's and it was like a spark of fireworks. He clenched his eyes shut once he heard the gasp coming from the other boy.

But shockingly enough he felt Robin's slender fingers intertwine with his hair pulling him closer. Wally pulled himself across the distance to the bed and Robin began to lean back into his pillow with the added weight, not wanting to hit and of the boy's newly acquired wounds Wally paced himself as he moved nearer, now he was leaning on to the pillows just as much as the other was.

Suddenly he felt Robin open his mouth just a bit. He moved to deepen the kiss even more as Robin's hands slid from his neck to his chest. But without warning he felt Robin pressing on his chest, confused Wally continued to kiss the boy but was soon flung off with a solid shove, forcing him back into the chair. Not registering what had just happened Wally looked over at Robin who was now curled in around himself on the bed.

"No Wally." He whispered, "I'm sorry, I can't." Wally's heart dropped when Robin choked out the sentences, "I can't do that to Artemis…" Wally's head began to spin as he realized what he had just done. Standing from the chair he dashed out of the room, leaving his old best friend to begin frantically yelping after him.

…

Barry was standing in the kitchen when Wally busted through the door,

"Hey what's up kiddo?" He asked once the fastest boy alive stormed past him without as much as a word. Wally glared over his shoulder at him and pushed his way into the pantry, "How was Rob's…Hey what's wrong?"

"I'm a horrible human being that deserves to die." Was the choked response as he pounded out of the room and up the stairs. Barry pursed his lips and decided it was best to give him some space. He would interrogate in about an hour or so.

Just as the Flash went to go sit on the couch with a bowl of trail mix his phone rang. Groaning he wiggled it out of his pocket **Bruce Wayne **flashed across the screen, frowning he opened the phone and pressed it to his ear,

"Sup?" He asked into the device only to hear Bruce talking to someone else on the other line,

"Barry?" Bruce growled before snapping to someone else, Barry blinked a few times before answering,

"Yup. Whatcha need Bats?" He popped a handful of trail mix into his mouth and propped his feet up as Bruce wrestled with whom ever was on the other line,

"What the hell did Wally do to Dick?" He snarled before snapping one final threat at the other person, Barry guessed Dick, attempting to get the phone away from the fuming Bat.

"No idea, he just came home, grabbed food, told me not to talk to him and went up stairs." Barry slid his feet off of the coffee table, suddenly interested in what the hell happened when Wally visited Dick, "Why, what's wrong with Dick?" He demanded quickly, "Is he alright? I heard he kinda took a spill earlier."

"He's fine. _Damn it sit down you'll pull your stitches! _Just fine. Other than I came in and he was-"

"_BRUCE! STOP SHUTUP! SHUTUP! SHUTUP!"_ Barry heard Dick wail from the other side. Wincing he realized he was causing some _major _daddy-son issues.

"crying…right after Wally left. _You will be grounded until COLLEGE now sit down!" _Barry nodded,

"So you think Wally did something?"

"That's what I believe, yes."

"I'll go talk to him."

"_I HATE YOU!" _Dick yelled from the other line, Barry frowned, damn, the Boy Wonder was never this angry. He'd never even heard the kid say the word "hate" before, now he was shouting out at Bruce? Of all people? Bruce?

"I-I'll talk to him, text you when I find something. Kay?" Barry almost had to shout over the ruckus on the receiving end.

"Gotcha, bye." Bruce snapped before ending the call. Barry sat back, he could only imagine what a fight that would have been. Dick was probably now pinned to the ground in some sort of fancy hold that was impossible to get out of. Sighing he set his bowl of trail mix down and went up stairs to go confront his nephew.

"Walls, are you alright?" Barry asked through the door. The other side of the door was silent as he knocked on the door,

"Fine." Wally spit back, "Just fine." Barry internally groaned, moody teenagers were the best. He reached out to open the door but found it locked.

"Wally open the door." There was no response as Barry leaned against the walls of the hallway, "Wallace West open the damn door." He said this time a bit more authoritative, "I will kick this-" With that the door clicked open revealing a blotchy and tear-stained Wally standing in the doorway,

"Happy?" He muttered and went back to his bed and sat down. Barry frowned and followed him in, sitting at the boy's desk and spun the chair around to face him,

"What's wrong? I heard something happened with Robin."

"You mean _Richard_?" Wally spat, Barry blinked,

"So he told you?"

"No, I walked in and his mask was off." Wally corrected and pulled his knees up to his chin, "He was basically forced to tell me…" He looked away at that,

"You can't tell me _that _is why you're mad." Barry said in disbelief.

"No…It's just…he was…Barry he looked so beautiful." Wally gagged out the words as if they were poisonous,

"…Wallace what did you do?" Barry said, slowly being able to pull the pieces together,

"Fuck it… Barry I kissed him!" The boy looked as if he had killed someone, like someone had reached into his chest and yanked out his heart. Barry had never seen this look of utter disappointment and shame on Wally's face. Wally couldn't even bring himself to look at his uncle as he sat there biting his lip and burying his head into his knees,

"You…" Barry couldn't managed words from the news. He couldn't believe his nephew could have done such a thing, "Are you gonna tell Artemis?" He whispered, Wally froze,

"No…yes…I don't know…Should I?" He nearly began sobbing at the mention of his girlfriend, "She'd hate me forever, Barry, God I couldn't live with myself if she hated me." Turning again once more Wally began letting a few tears trickle out of the corner of his eyes,

"She wouldn't hate you." Barry assured him, "But yes, honestly I think you should." Wally starred up at him and opened his mouth,

"Really?" He mused, "What have I done?" He sputtered leaning forward to burry his head into his uncle's shoulder,

"Shh, it's alright, you're fine…" Barry whispered to him patting his head as his nephew sobbed into his arms.

…

Dick starred up at his guardian in disbelief as he shut the phone, "I can't believe you." He growled,

"I can't believe you're acting like such a child!" Bruce snapped back,

"Maybe I don't want my personal business shouted to the world!" Dick glared daggers at the man,

"I want to know what the hell happened between you two to cause you to cry like that Dick, I haven't seen you _that _depressed in years, and the fact that you can't even open up to me why, I can't take that Dick, not from you." Dick gulped and turned away,

"It's nothing." He said instantly standing and beginning to walk out of the room,

"We both know that's a lie." Bruce called after him.

"FINE!" Dick sent a glower at the Bat that caused even the Dark Knight to feel uneasy, "We _kissed _Bruce! He kissed me! Alright? Are you happy? He's dating Artemis and he kissed me! I couldn't help it! I kissed back! I've liked him so much longer then you can even imagine, and it was a dream come true! But then I realized he just _used _me to cheat on Artemis, okay? I realized every single thing he's said to me, every little flirty text every time he pretended to sing to me, that it meant _something. _Okay? I don't know what to do! I just broke two of my best friend's hearts! I probably just _ruined _their entire relationship and you just shouted that out to his uncle! Barry probably doesn't even know what the hell is going on and you just dragged him in Bruce! Hell! You didn't even need to know! I don't need help sorting this out Bruce, I can handle myself down, damn it, can you just leave?" Dick panted bursting into tears again and pointing at the door, Bruce stood silently looking entirely flabbergasted at the outburst, and walked from the room shutting the door behind him.

Dick stood in place in the center of the floor and sobbed, only turning to catch a glimpse of himself in a mirror hanging on his wall. His eyes were red shot and puffy, tears stained his cheeks and his nose, chin, and cheeks were blotched with a deep red. Creases on his forehead and under his lip stood out drastically as his lip quivered and his eyebrows pulled together, he was a mess.

Throwing himself onto the bed he begin hiccupping into the sheets, the same sheets that only a few short hours ago, he and Wally kissed. The memory flooded through him, bringing another wave of depression and tears.

…

Wally ran a hand over his brow as beads of sweat dripped down. Flipping off his thin tank top he wiped off his face with the fabric and tossed it aside before working at the weeds in the garden once again. This had been his punishment, once Aunt Iris had walked into his room only to hear him say, "Why the fuck am I such a fucking screw up?" to his uncle. Sure, she had heard the story of _why _he was cursing and so utterly distraught, but she didn't seem to take that into consideration. The woman had warned him that he could have had a punishment fifty times worse than having to simply make her lawn look beautiful if he hadn't had such an excuse, but Wally and Barry still felt it was a bit severe for such a small offence.

Still Wally was condemned to his punishment as he pulled another prickly plant out from between his aunt's tulips. Suddenly he heard a cough from behind him, He raised an eyebrow and turned to face the noise,

"...Hey Wally." Robin- no Dick, stood there awkwardly, scuffing a nice pair of converse against the walkway through the garden. Wally blinked,

"Hi." He nodded, Robin looked weird in the clothes he was wearing, not that Wally was thinking about taking them off! But he just looked so out of place in that style. His shaggy black hair was slicked neatly back and he wore a clean pair of khaki slacks with a navy blue polo. He half expected a sweater vest to be thrown along with such a get-up.

"Whatcha doing?" Dick asked still awkwardly standing in front of him,

"Weeding…" Wally responded,

"Ah, it's a nice garden." Dick mused, Wally huffed,

"Why are you here, Rob…Rich…whatever?" Dick sighed and scratched the back of his neck, at least he had the same nervous ticks.

"I…wanted to know what you were going to do." Dick finally mustered, wincing and then glancing slowly back at Wally,

"About?" The red-head asked as if he didn't know,

"Artemis." Dick responded

"That's none of your business." Wally snapped back, Dick gasped, looking taken aback,

"Excuse me?" He demanded,

"Are you just here to make me feel horrible? Or have you just not done enough?" Wally hissed, standing and using his discarded shirt to wipe the dirt from his hands,

"Have _I _done enough? Wally I think you forget who kissed who!" Dick retorted furiously,

"Don't give me that! You were just involved as I was!" Wally sputtered at him, "Why do you even _care _what happens between me and Artemis, huh?"

"Maybe because I care about _both _of you and I don't want to see either of you hurt!" Dick said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world,

"Well then why on _Earth _would she even need to know it happened?" There was a sudden flash of anger in the shorter boy's eyes,

"You weren't going to tell her?" He spat, "That's despicable!"

"Why do you _care?!"_ Wally shouted,

"Hmmm I don't know, maybe because Artemis needs to know that her boyfriend is a cheating piece of garbage!" Dick yelled right back, but he instantly regretted his words a Wally's face fell from furious to shattered,

"I don't want to loose her too!" He suddenly swore at him, it was Dick's turn to back off a bit,

"Wally, she deserves to know." He said, a bit more calmly,

"She deserves it…she deserves better than me." Wally spat and planted himself down on the ground,

"Wally…" Dick began and sat along side him.

"I don't deserve her, Rob, I just…I can't believe I did that. I'm so…" Dick lifted a hand,

"Don't you dare say your sorry." Wally turned away and rubbed at his eyes with his fingers,

"Rob, you should leave." Wally whispered,

"Wally, let me help-"

"You've done enough, now leave!" The speedster suddenly snarled, "Get out of here!" Dick's heart fell into the pit of his stomach as Wally's irate glower hit him.

"I-"

"GO!" Wally shouted standing up once again and yanked Dick up to his feet before shoving him away. "Now." Dick gulped once before nodded and turning away,

"Good bye Wally." He whispered, wondering as he spoke whether he was saying a farewell, or giving up his friendship altogether. Wally starred after the boy. Dick didn't even glance over his shoulder as he walked away. He didn't run, he didn't stomp, he simply walked away. Was he even mad? Did he even _care?_ Wally couldn't tell as he turned the corner out of the front lawn and was out of sight.

Once again, he had ruined their relationship.

…

"You…" Artemis mouthed as her and Wally sat across from each other in the middle of their favorite coffee shop. She couldn't bring herself to say anything as Wally had explained that he had kissed Robin. Her heart pulled against her chest, threatening to burst through her ribs as she let the story sink into her. Her throat became awfully dry, and no matter how many sips of her tea she took the dryness wouldn't retreat. A sudden searing pain lashed through her chest and she placed her balled fist against her knee.

"Art, I am so sorry." Wally whispered reaching out in an attempt to grab the hand that still remained on the table, Artemis jerked away from the touch and shot him the most heartbroken look that she could muster,

"Don't touch me." She hissed under her breath, "Wally, were you going to tell me?" She demanded so quietly that she it was hardly audible among the other chatter within the café. Wally said nothing as he turned away from her, gazing down at his own hands,

"I didn't want to hurt you." He finally muttered back at her, "I thought it was for the best." Artemis clenched her teeth together waiting for Wally to continue, "I know now, I messed up, you're probably gonna break up with me, but I just…it was a mistake." Wally almost pleaded with her as her mind worked at a million miles an hour.

"You'd be right." She whispered, and pulling out her wallet she dropped a few bills on the table, "For the drinks." She muttered and stood. Without another word she stormed out of the restaurant leaving Wally staring after her.

…

Artemis knew it was a horrible idea to walk home alone. But she couldn't focus properly now, her mind was everywhere and Wally had driven her to the café, what an idiotic idea. He must've known she was going to do that. Or maybe he just assumed she'd forgive him for betraying her. Artemis wouldn't let the tears start flowing, not while she was in public like this.

She moved to cross the street to her apartment, realizing midway through that she was in line with an enormous truck she gasped and went to move but found herself unable to even budge from her spot. She seemed to relax as she realized that, hey, maybe she walked out there for a reason. She closed her eyes and felt herself be flung back against the sidewalk.

Coughing and flashing her eyes open she realized that rather than an enormous truck on top of her, it was Wally. She blinked up at him and then broke into tears,

"Are you okay? Babe are you hurt?" Wally demanded worriedly. Artemis shook her head and reached up, pulling her lips against his,

"I love you." Artemis whispered once she pulled away, pressing her forehead against his Wally broke out into a smile,

"Oh my God." He laughed and press her face into his shoulder, "I love you too, I love you so much, never do that to me again." He whispered, "please. If I lost you I just…" He broke off, realizing that he was rambling, "Can you forgive me?" He asked her, Artemis nodded and through her tears once again leaned up, pulling his face towards hers and let their lips mesh together,

_Four Years Later_

Dick grumbled to himself as he stepped out of his apartment into the freezing winter air. It was cold again today and he honestly didn't feel like picking out something warmer seeing as he was just going to go to Mount Justice. He ruffled a hand through his ear length hair and sighed before stepping down the stairs to the parking lot. He pulled his scarf tighter around his neck and tucked it into his jacket, damn it was cold.

It was just then that his phone buzzed in his pocket. **Jason Todd **flashed across the screen and Dick smiled as he answered the text.

**Hey, Birdie. **The simple text read. Dick chuckled at the nickname and typed out a quick reply.

**_Hey Jay_. **He put his phone back in his jacket pocket and swung his leg over his motorcycle. Zipping up the pocket that held his phone he brought the bike to life and tugged on his helmet. This was not going to be pleasant. Dick grumbled to himself about _really _needing to get a car to get back and forth across town, especially in winter. But whatever, he had what he had to work with and he refused to take one of Bruce's hand-outs he was so avid about giving him.

Just as he pulled out onto the street he felt his phone buzz in his pocket again and a light-hearted smile spread across his face. Jason could wait a little bit before he answered.

Dick pulled his motorcycle into the back lot of a convenience store and parked. The Zeta-beam was only a few blocks from here and he didn't feel like trying to get his bike into the phone booth that held to zeta-beam again. He stepped off his bike and drew his mask from his pocket. Sliding it onto his face he began heading into the alleyway. Pulling out his phone. Jason's text flashed across the screen and Dick swiped his thumb across the screen to open it.

**You look good today. **The text read. Dick flipped around to see, just as he expected, the Red Hood leaning against the brick wall of a one of the buildings that surrounded them,

"Why thank you, I try." Dick laughed at the man and put his phone in his pocket, "What're you doing here, Jay?" He questioned, "I don't want you getting into any trouble." Jason began walking towards the dark haired man.

"I can't come see you every once and a while?" Jason asked with a shrug, still not removing his mask,

"Not when I'm supposed to be at work in…2 minutes." Dick tutted him, and stepped up so him and Jason were only a few feet away,

"You still got three minutes." He corrected Dick and went to wrap his arms around the slightly taller man. Dick allowed this and quickly wrapped his arms around Jason's neck. Dick pulled away after the quick embrace and stepped back a bit,

"Alright, you got your hug, now scurry home." He winked, Jason rolled his eyes, or Dick thought he rolled his eyes, and flipped his mask off.

"Fine. But I'm coming back later." Jason warned,

"I'll be back in about a week, see you then." Jason groaned and then shook his head,

"You know, I'll never know why you put so much work into all those kids." He sighed

"It's my job, and it's fun." Dick told him, "and now I am officially late thank you very much. I'll see you later Jason." Dick stepped forward and pecked Jason on the cheek, "Now, fly home little bird. I don't want to hear a peep from or about you while I'm gone." Jason chuckled and returned the kiss, this time planting a light peck onto Dick's lips.

"Good luck with that." Dick rolled his eyes and turned back to the alley. As he walked he felt a quick slap on his rear and flipped around only in time to see Jason turn the corner away from him. Dick laughed and shook his head, that boy was such a pain sometimes.

Dick stepped into the zeta-beam and waited until his name was called off.

Once he had stepped into the briefing room the little ones surrounded him. He greeted them all and went to go put his jacket away.

"Umm… Nightwing?" He heard a few giggles as Impulse stepped forward, "Who's Red Hood?" He cackled and then flashed by his instructor removing a paper from his rear-end and holding it up for the teacher to see,

Dick blushed as he read the paper,

_**PROPERTY OF RED HOOD**_

"An ass, my dear children, he is an ass." Dick said simply and took the paper from the sniggering children.

Dick had only made it into the locker-room for a few seconds before Tim walked in after him,

"Nightwing?" Tim asked and sat on the bench, "What's going on with you and Jay?" He demanded, "I mean I'm used to you texting him during breaks, but what was _that?" _He demanded motioning towards the paper that now sat on the bench in front of Dick's locker,

"He paid me a visit this morning. And nothing is going on between us." He said quickly.

"Sure doesn't look like that." Tim said simply, "I mean, maybe it's just me, or do you like him?"

"Robin this is not the time, nor the place to discuss that." Dick said, instantly going into teacher mode. Tim shrugged and turned around,

"Whatever. You're spilling later though." He said simply and stepped out of the locker room.

…

"Wait, Wally's here?" Dick asked when Tim came into his room. Dick's heart flew into his throat at the mere mention of the name. He was still madly in love with Wally, but the two had hardly seen each other over the last few years. They had been in an enormous argument, resolved everything when Wally and Artemis had gotten back together, and then just kind of faded apart. But still, his feelings hadn't died for Wally in the slightest and to hear his name once more was music to his ears.

"Yeah, he's in the living room. I guess he wanted to come see Impulse about something." Dick blinked and instantly kicked off of his bed and ran to the living room. True enough he saw Wally sitting on the couch stuffing his face with a bowl of chips. Dick's heart beat at a million miles per second when he saw him and an enormous smile spread across his face,

"Wally!" Dick smiled and planted himself right across the couch from him,

"Dude!" Wally grinned and stood up, arms open. Dick joined him in standing and wrapped his arms in a quick hug around him.

"Whoa man, your arms are soft, what the hell? But damn! You look good, what's been up?" Wally demanded taking in the sight of his best friend. He was just in a tight tank top, his mask of course, and a fitted pair of jeans.

"You know, I've been working out."

"And the arms? Dude you can't tell me you're waxing them!" Wally almost burst out laughing,

"Am not! I'm shaving! Aerodynamics, thank you very much! I see you've gained a few pounds." Dick cackled poking Wally in the stomach,

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"All that eating and no running is really taking its toll, huh?" Wally rolled his eyes,

"Shut up man!"

"It's your own fault! But whatever, how's Artemis dude? I haven't talked to her either!"

"She's doing good, we're doing good!" Wally laughed, "No problems, she snores a little bit, but you know, I can live with it." Dick laughed; he had almost completely forgotten that Wally and Artemis had moved in together after they had quit the team.

"Awesome man!" Dick smiled,

"What about you? Any lady friends?" Dick chuckled at the question; Wally still didn't know he was gay. It sunk it every time he saw him.

"No, no lady friends." He shrugged, "You know, just can't find the right one I guess." He couldn't tell him 'oh yes I'm in a relationship with one of the ex-Robins, who is a man', so his response was the best thing he could scramble to put together.

"Any good, you know?" Wally winked, Dick howled with laughter as all the kids around them suddenly got extremely awkward,

"All the time man." He cackled, making the kids even more uncomfortable, "They just can't get enough." A few of the girls started blushing and giggling while the guys simply went extremely stiff. Just as he said that he got a text, raising an eyebrow he flipped his phone out of his pocket and opened it,

**Just couldn't stay away. **

A text from Jason read. Dick shook his head and typed out a response.

_**I'm just too amazing huh?**_

"And who's that? I thought you said there weren't any ladies." Wally jabbed Dick in the chest with a grin,

"Oh, you know." Was all Dick could say, "Just a little flame." _Or my boyfriend…_

**Something like that. I just thought you'd get bored in that little day-care of yours. **Jason responded.

_**Aren't you so thoughtful? **_

"Sure they can't, dude!" Wally laughed and leaned over to smack Dick's knee, "Well, hey, what ever happened to Zatanna? I heard you guys were going out again!" Dick shrugged,

"Same thing as last time I guess, we just aren't destined to be." _That and she found out I was gay. _Dick added mentally. He hadn't cheated on her or anything, it was just that she got extremely suspicious when he hadn't kissed her or busted any sort of move after about two weeks of them 'dating'.

"Sorry to hear that, man." Dick shrugged,

**I am. Hey, I wanna see you tonight? You free? **

"I'll find someone eventually, not everyone can be as lucky as you and Art." He jabbed at the speedster's arm and Wally blushed,

_**No. I'm working. You know this! **_

"Hey you know, true love and all that." Dick clenched his teeth but nodded, it still hurt that Wally and Artemis would probably never break up and he could do nothing at all to fight that. There was no way he could try and steal Wally away from her. Because unlike Dick, after they kissed Wally had pulled himself out of his 'confused' state and realized that he was indeed straight. For Dick it had simply confirmed that he was indeed a homosexual. Also that he was in love with one Wally West.

**Sneak out, come on Dick, we used to sneak out all the time! **

_**Where do you wanna go? **_

"Yeah. Hey, maybe I'll just be a player the rest of my life." Dick winked,

**Somewhere. Pick you up at 10. **

_**I hate you. **_

**Keep telling yourself that, babe. **

"No way I'm gonna let that happen bro." Wally smiled at him, "You'll find…someone" He had to force out. Dick raised an eyebrow at the sudden stammer but chose to ignore it as the two continued to talk.

**OKAY! So questions for this chapter: **

**Why the HELL is Dick dating Jason?! **

**Does Wally still like Dick? **

**What do you think is gonna happen next between the two? **


	9. Damnations

**REALLY sorry about how long it's been, so enjoy!**

"Someone looks pissed." Jason noted as Dick slammed his front door open, heaving his bag onto the floor and stomping inside. Dick froze and glared up at him,

"When did you get here?" He demanded, he couldn't say that he was angered by his boyfriend's sudden presence, but still, he had wanted some quiet time before their date.

"When did you leave?" Jason shrugged, leaning back against the couch and changing the channel on the T.V.

"Like…2 days ago." Dick grumbled, plopping down on the couch next to him and resting his head against Jason's shoulder. The Red Hood shifted so that Dick could put his head on his lap and the exhausted man happily complied with the offer. Jason absentmindedly stroked Dick's hair out of his face; the long bangs now to the length that they could fall over his eyes when he laid down.

Dick let his eyes droop close as the T.V. flickered in front of him and Jason's soothing hands stroked across his forehead and cheeks. Jason looked down and raised an eyebrow to see Dick asleep in his lap. Smiling to himself he continued flipping through channels until he found the military channel. His little birdie was so cute when he was sleeping.

…

Artemis laughed as another one of the paint-balls left the chamber and struck Wally right in the cheek. The red-head let out a quick hiss of pain, but then turned on Artemis with a crazed grin. He cackled as he hoisted up his gun and shot her twice, straight in the chest. Artemis gasped when she looked down at the awkward positioning of both shots. Her eyes widened at Wally, as if to ask him why the hell had to just shot her in the breasts, but Wally simply shrugged and began sniggering again as he dove behind one of the obstacles between him and Artemis's teams.

The two had been playing paint-ball now for nearly four hours and were entirely exhausted by the end of it. They waved goodbye to the small group of college-friends that had accompanied them and held hands as they walked away.

"I need a new shirt." Artemis grumbled quietly to herself once the two had gotten out onto the street outside of the paint-ball field.

"Hmm?" Wally asked,

"Shirt, I don't want to walk around with … _these _pointed out to the world, she motioned to her bosom with their interlinked hands. Wally frowned a bit at the thought of going into a store for however long Artemis intended on being in the store. She wasn't generally one to spend hours shopping, like M'gann, but she still spent her fair amount of time browsing along the displays, and then debating over two, nearly identical, articles of clothing.

"Shirt…" Wally hummed, "Why not a dress?" Artemis shot him a quick look as she began dragging Wally into the front entrance of the mall.

"A dress?" Artemis scoffed, Wally shrugged,

"Get a dress and I'll pay for that, and maybe some ice cream~" He sang. Artemis raised an eyebrow, but decided it wasn't the best idea to question what was going on in that confusing brain of his.

Soon enough Artemis had found a decent store and decided on a simple white, strapless sundress with a skinny brown belt. She had also picked out a pair of flip-flops to go along with the dress, seeing as her muddy sneakers wouldn't have matched too well with the beautiful dress. Wally approved of the outfit, paid, and then allowed her to change.

Artemis stepped into the restroom and stripped off her jacket and pervertedly tagged tank top. She held up the ankle-length dress and smiled, it had been a while since she had worn a dress like this. Silently thanking Wally she shoved her discarded shirt and jacket into her bag and then went to work on her belt and jeans.

While she undressed she attempted to remember the last time she had worn a dress like this one. Nothing really came to mind, other than a few weddings she had attended. Prom as well, but that dress had been a long black dress that had a slit on one side, about an inch of sleeves and a high neckline. It wasn't this delicate, sheer, white fabric that she was now stepping into. She was glad that the dress had no buttons or zippers to wrestle with. She didn't have the faith in herself to have the brain capacity for such tasks. The blonde slid all the clothes into the bag and slipped on the flip flops.

"Hey Wall-" She began and as she walked out of the restroom she realized that Wally was nowhere to be seen. Frowning she spotted a bright envelope taped to the wall across from her with the name _'ARTEMIS' _jotted down across the front. Artemis gulped, it was certainly Wally's chicken-scratch hand writing, but she wondered why.

_Dear Artemis. _

_Beatuiful, _

_Archer, _

_Radiant, _

_Royal pain in my ass_

_Youthful _

_Xoxoxo,_

_Wally _

Grumbling to herself she flipped the paper over and a ribbon was taped to the other side, some sort of hide and seek game? Maybe a scavenger hunt? She sighed and stuffed the note in her back pocket. B.A.R.R.Y. Barry, he was at Barry's. He honestly had to make these hints harder.

She stepped out of the mall, honestly wanting to call the red-heads uncle and demand what was going on, but truthfully, Wally was quite the little kid, he was probably bored. Well, on the other hand Artemis was tired and sore, she wasn't in the mood for these stupid games.

Untying her hair from its pony tail she let the crimped hair fall around her and then tied the locks back with a small ribbon that she had found inside the envelope.

Barry's wasn't really a surprise, but it was a bloody long walk. She had no intentions of making the several mile trudge all the way to Barry's house, so she waved down a passing Taxi, gave them the address and began to doze off in the back seat.

While she napped her mind began to wander. She began to think of how horribly her body ached, all the way to possible reasons for this scavenger hunt. She prayed silently it wasn't a creative way to break up with her. But she didn't expect something like that from Wally.

Wally. Now that was a topic that her mind could wander to most every second of everyday and still not get tired of the thought. Just the thought of him still made her smile. He was perfect to her, regardless if right now she was slightly peeved that he had left her in the middle of town, alone. But in all honesty she couldn't imagine herself with anyone else, and hoped that Wally shared the same plans as she did. She hoped to marry him someday, if not someday soon. She planned to have children, sure, they had Spitfire, and he certainly acted like a child sometimes, a spoiled child, but still he was their baby.

Then her mind began to dance around the subject of children, names, looks, baby rooms, how her belly button would look when she was pregnant, whether Wally would want to get married first. So many things danced through her mind as she slept there bobbing in and out of reality.

"Ma'am." The older man said from the front seat, Artemis stirred a bit and her eyes flickered open. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and wiped at her mouth before digging out a few dollars and placing them in the outstretched palm of the man. He nodded to her as he drove away, Barry's neat little house stood in front of her, she stretched, still a bit drowsy from her nap on the drive over, but she still walked up the steps to the white-painted front door. Just as she was about to knock, there was another note on the ground that had her name on it once again,

"What the hell Wally?" She moaned and stooped over, a few spots where she had been shot earlier that day snapped at her in protest, but she managed to stand with the envelope in hand. Undoing the strings that held it together she read the note and placed the small silver bracelet that fell out along with the note between her fingers.

Dragging her attention from the note to the jewelry she smiled, she had pointed this out to Wally a few days back, when they went to get a baby-shower present for an old friend of Wally's. He had instantly told her it was too expensive, fifty dollars, she remembered and laughed, "I'm going to beat that boy for spending so much." She shook her head but still slid it over her hand and looked at the note, thanking God silently that she was able to read Wally's atrocious hand-writing.

_Up where we used to sit. _

_We used to talk. _

_We used to joke. _

_Up where we've made promise after promise._

_We shared kiss after kiss_

_We shared laugh after laugh_

_Up where you used to have to break into to see me. _

Artemis rolled her eyes at this, his old bedroom. She had indeed had to break into that room several times in order to see him when he got grounded, which happened quite a few times a month it seemed. But now she had to remind herself how in the world she would get up there. Frowning she went down the steps and walked back around the house. Wally's room was on the second floor on the right side of the house. There was a tree a few feet away. Usually she had Wally to catch her as she jumped from the tree to the window, a nearly 6 foot jump and a 20 foot drop. Rolling her eyes she cursed having to choose a dress and hoisted the loose skirt up and began to climb the tree. And scrambled across the branches, being extremely cautious of the white fabric that continuously tangled around her legs and snagged onto branched and twigs.

Once she reached the right branch she swung herself onto it and began inching across. The gruff texture of the bark bit into her exposed flesh, leaving small white scratches, not yet breaking skin. She was going to make him _pay _ for this. And besides that, the temperature was dropping considerably faster than Artemis wanted it to.

It was nearly three minutes of Artemis struggling with her skirt and the tree before she finally got to the edge. Like the bone head he was, Wally left the window shut, hiding wherever the hell he was in there. Artemis knew that he wouldn't come out of his hiding spot to let her in so she swung to the edge of the branch. The appendage shivered under the weight and began to tilt as she went farther along it. Sucking in one deep breath she leapt for the window. Landing on the small railing with only her forearms as support she scrambled to unlock the door. Yet not only was it shut, it was lock.

"Oh for fucks sake!" Artemis wailed and struggled to hoist herself up again to at least sit on the edge. Pulling the envelope from her pocket she slid the small piece of paper between the small crack in the window until it was able to get close enough to the lock. She pulled up on the envelope and sent the small hook and eye lock open. With a huff of victory she pushed open the window. A sickeningly loud alarm went off as she entered the house. She groaned extremely loud back at it and went to shut it off on the pin pad next to Wally's door.

Flipping around once again to face the room she scanned it.

"Wallace West if you are in here I'm going to kick your as-" She cut off, seeing a single red rose laying on the bed along with another note. With a wail of anguish she grabbed the rose and picked up the note.

_Red Head Power. _

Frowning Artemis shoved the letter into her pocket along with the others and snagged the rose, on any other day, with much easier obstacles this would have been wonderful, sweet, perfect, but still right now she was PMS-y and cold and sore and she just climbed a tree in a God damn dress. Wally was going to get punched in the face. Soon.

Now, not only did Artemis have to get another cab, or jack one of Barry's cars, which seemed like a very good option right now, but she had to go see Roy. She did _not _like Roy. Roy did _not _like Artemis. Why the _hell _was Wally doing this?

Pounding out of Wally's old room she stormed down the stairs and snagged a pair of keys from the bowl in Barry's kitchen. Jotting down a quick note on a sticky-note she put it by the bowl, saying she was taking his motorcycle.

Finding one of Iris' jackets in the closet by the garage she threw on the leather article and dashed outside. Roy's was another _long _drive. A very _long _drive. A drive that took several hours.

Artemis groaned and hopped on the bike, instantly regretting not grabbing a pair of pants, and forced the bike to roar to life. She sped out of the garage, shutting it behind her and began heading to the freeway.

She was halfway through the maze of streets that surrounded Barry's house when it hit her. She wasn't going to Roy's. She was going to Wally and Roy's hangout when the other angry red head visited! Spitting in anger she swerved the bike around and began dashing to an old sports bar that the two frequented. At least Wally was nice enough to not give her a few hours to drive. Hopefully. Oh please let her be right about this.

Artemis entered the bar with a running red nose, and no part of her body that was dry. Now, not only had temperatures reached the forties, oh no, now it was raining. Why the _hell _did she choose the motorcycle? She swore as she slammed the doors open, marching right up to the counter she extended her hand.

"Where is it?" She growled at the bar tender. The man shot her a look and then laughed,

"Aww yes _chérie! La rose est ici!" _He said with a heavy Cajun accent and stepped out from behind the counter. He lead her to, what she assumed, was Wally and Roy's usual table which had another rose and another letter.

_"Merci_." Artemis nodded and the older man smiled.

"_Vous _is very _mignon. _Very cute." He laughed and patted her head, she nodded at him and thanked him again for his help and took a seat on the cushioned seat and read the next letter.

_Mountain Sweet Mountain _

"Mount Justice. Of course." She moaned, standing and tucking the rose inside her jacket along with the other goodies she had gathered she went back out into the rain and hoped onto her bike. "Why did I have to choose Wally, of all men to fall in love with, the _one _guy that makes his girlfriend ride around the _country _for _hours _in the _pouring rain _because he's _bored_?" She bitched as the brought the bike to life and road to the closest Zeta-Beam.

…

"Where?" She growled at Robin, who was sitting on the couch with Conner and M'gann.

"Room." Robin called back to her.

"Thanks." She groaned. Room, that meant either her old room or Wally's old room. She was guessing Wally's but she could check her own old room too. She was sure someone had already moved into it again, she couldn't quite place who, but she really didn't care. Punching in the code to open the door, she found it empty, someone hadn't been there for a few hours, but indeed there was a rose and a note on the bed. She scooped it up and stuffed the two items in her pocket.

She went to Wally's room as well, just to double check, and thankfully, there was another rose and another letter there.

She drew the other note from her pocket and read them both.

_Where It All Began._

"Watch Tower?" She pondered, did he mean when they got together, or where they met? She guessed the first and sleepily began to shuffle to the zeta-beam again. She didn't have enough energy for this in all honesty, she just wanted to sleep, and now it was nearing 9 o'clock and she was still wet and tired. She hoped there weren't twelve fucking roses.

…

"And here." She moaned seeing two roses on the floor in the exact spot where Wally had first kissed her, so many years ago. She smiled for the first time since Wally ditched her and picked up the note and the flowers.

_See You At Home, Babe_

It read. She grinned. Thank. God. She was ecstatic to _finally _be going home. Home was wear food, sleep, and a shower was. Where she could beat the living hell out of Wally for making her do this.

…

The ride home was the worst. The temperature had dropped even more, and thus it had begun to snow. Sitting on a motorcycle in twenty degree, snowy weather was definitely worthy of killing Wally over. She rung out her sopping hair at the last stop light before she reached their apartment and got as many snow flakes off of it as she could.

The light flicked green and she was promptly rear-ended by a small slug bug behind her. She jerked forward and tumbled off the bike. Glaring over her shoulder, she saw the frantic elderly lady behind her begin to unbuckle herself to see if Artemis was all right. She was fine. She had to dodge a few cars that sped past, flipping her off and screaming at her to get off the road, but she was fine. Only a small cut on her arm. She walked to the now open door of the VW and frowned at her,

"I'm fine. Watch yourself from now on." Artemis grumbled at the old lady who was at a loss for words as Artemis stormed away and leapt back on her bike, clutching at her now bleeding arm.

…

She parked the bike and stormed up the stairs. Great, now she'd have to buy Iris a new jacket AND pay for repairs for the bikes back lights. That AND all the roses had been squished during her fall and were loosing broken petals in a pathway behind her.

Slamming the door open she glared to see one rose sitting on the floor. Swearing she swooped to pick it up. Her joints and cuts screeched at her for the hundredth time that night as she picked it up, only to see another, and another, and another leading in a small pathway into the bedroom.

"Oh please tell me this isn't what I think it's about." She growled, stooping over and picking up rose after rose, five in total.

She finally opened the door to the bedroom and found Wally, down on one knee, with the last rose and a small green ring box. Artemis dropped the roses and found herself glaring at him instead of the weightless joy she expected to feel when she was proposed to.

"Artemis Crock…" Wally began.

"Hell. No." Artemis snapped and stormed past him. The red head looked like he was shot as she began to untangle her hair from the ribbon and went to sliding off her jacket which was now caked with blood. She tore open the drawer and pulled out a pair of pajamas before going to the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom and stripping off all of her drenched clothes.

…

When she came out of the shower and had dried her hair, Wally still sat in the same spot on the floor, "Artemis?" He stammered when she exited the restroom in an overly large, pink, fluffy robe.

"Huh?" She asked and then looked at the box. She walked over to it and opened it, "Of course." She grinned at him and he beamed,

"R-really?" he stumbled to his feet and pulled the ring from the box before sliding it onto Artemis' hand.

"Who else would make sure you don't make some other woman endure that horrible torture?" Artemis laughed and then crushed her lips against his,

"I thought," Wally began when their lips were separated, but she instantly pressed them back together, "I was being," he tried again, only to receive one more peck, "romantic." Artemis shook her head and laughed.

"Nice try." She winked and went back to pressing her lips against his.

…

Dick woke up in his bed, tucked into the covers and pulled into Jason's chest. He blushed but didn't move, taking in the sights and sweet smells of his sleeping partner. Somehow he felt a ping of regret and betrayal plant itself deep into his stomach as Wally's face flew into memory. Why would he feel bad about cuddling with Jason when he knew Wally felt no regret with Artemis? Still he couldn't quite clear his conscious. Jason exhaled deeply and shifted under Dick's weight,

"Mornin' birdie." Jason slurred, rubbing his eyes and stretching, Dick smiled up at him and all the guilt fluttered away.

"Morning." He yawned and let Jason wrap an arm around him. It wasn't until his face was being pressed into Jason's chest that he realized it was entirely bare, along with his own.

"You took off my shirt?" Dick scowled up at the younger man with disbelief plain on his face,

"Too warm out for shirts." Jason replied simply, Dick rolled his eyes and buried his face once again into Jason's chest. But this time Jason slipped his index finger underneath Dick's chin and tilted it up so that he could press his lips to the other's. Dick welcomed this and moved so he was practically sitting on top of Jason, with his legs on either side of his hips. Dick pulled away again,

"Are you kidding me?" He laughed, Jason raised an eyebrow,

"What?" He demanded,

"Pants!" Dick sighed pointing down at Jason who was only in his boxers.

"Feel lucky yours stayed on." Jason winked and leaned up once again to kiss Dick, the two were pulled back into the kiss and Dick felt Jason wrap his arms around his waist. Dick smiled a bit into the kiss and went to deepen it while he tangled his hands into Jason's hair.

It wasn't until Jason had his thumb hooked around one of Dick's belt loops that Dick heard the doorbell. He pulled back slightly and huffed, Jason shot him a look of '_just leave it'_ but of course Dick shimmied himself off of the bed and onto the floor. He hadn't even taken notice of his own appearance until he opened the door and saw Wally. The red head turned to him and his eyes opened widely.

"Hey." Dick smiled at him, "You're here-"

"Am…umm am I interrupting something?" he asked awkwardly gesturing to Dick disheveled appearance, messed up hair, lack of shirt, and the fact that his pants were undone. Dick's face turned beet red as he shook his head,

"Oh! Umm…no, yeah, I mean nothing really." He stuttered while Wally just sat there and nodded. The two awkwardly stood in the door way, and soon enough Jason got bored sitting all alone in Dick's room and chose then to appear, in nothing but loose fitting boxers, from around the corner. Wally looked over Dick's shoulder and gapped.

"Ohhhhhh" He nodded, "Umm I can come back later, it's really no big deal!" He began to excuse himself before Dick opened the door enough for him to step in and pulled the red head inside.

"Jason, bedroom, now." Dick called back to the man who was now cracking open a beer and rummaging through the rest of the refrigerator. Jason stood up, glared at Wally, sighed but then retreated back to the bedroom, muttering several profanities underneath his breath.

"So, what did you need?" Dick asked, buttoning and zipping his jeans and moving over to the couches as if nothing happened. Wally was silent for a few minutes before he sat down across from Dick.

"I did know you were…" He began, but then cut off.

"Gay?" Dick pursed his lips,

"Yeah." Wally said,

"Well, yeah, umm that was my boyfriend Jason. JASON SAY HI!" Dick called into the bedroom, Jason's head popped around the wall, he flashed Wally the middle finger and slipped back into the room,

"HI!" He yelled at the duo sitting in the living room and went about attempting to find the some bloody horror movie on the T.V. in Dick's room.

"Nice guy." Wally said awkwardly, Dick laughed,

"Once you get to know him he isn't half bad." Wally suddenly blinked over at Dick,

"Wait…Jason?" He asked, Dick nodded, "As in Todd?" He demanded again, Dick suddenly knew where he was going with this and hesitated before giving him a nod, "You're dating…the Red Hood?" Wally stammered in disbelief,

"Surprise!" Dick sighed, "Well you're dating the daughter of Sports Master!" He retorted, Wally lifted his hands up,

"That's a _little _bit different!" He said,

"Just don't tell Bats!" Dick said instantly,

"Wait…Bats doesn't know?!" Wally suddenly was extremely terrified that if the bats found out, he'd blame Wally for not telling him about the 'relationship' between two of his ex-Robins. After all, now he'd be considered a witness…oh God…Bats was going to kill him if he ever found out!

"No! Bats doesn't know! Besides, he's not gonna find out!" Dick grumbled and began scavenging around the room for a jacket. Finding one of Jason's button downs, he settled for this and did the buttons up the plaid shirt.

"Does he know that your…umm"

"Yes! Yes, he knows!" Dick informed him, "He was a little shocked at first, but he's living with it." The younger man shrugged and leaned back against the couch across from Wally, "Are you okay with it?" He asked hesitantly.

"Huh? Oh ummm yeah, I think so… it's just…I mean I … yeah." Wally nodded rubbing the back of his neck, "How long?" Wally asked,

"How long, what?" Dick questioned,

"Have you been uh, you know what I mean!" Wally insisted,

"Umm…not really."

"You know what, never mind!" Wally sighed and ran his hand through his fiery hair,

"Oh! Um I found out when I was thirteen and then the Jason thing has been nearly five months." Dick said, Wally nodded and rubbed his hands together,

"Alrighty! So, um I was here because I need to ask you a favor!"

"Anything, dude."

"Well, would you sing at my wedding?" Dick's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach he was in no way prepared for that atomic bomb. His head spun and his stomach clenched up, along with his fists. He knew one day this would happen, he knew that some horrible day that this dreadful news would come to him. But why today? Why not tomorrow? Or next week? Why ever? Wally and Artemis were too young! Far too young! They couldn't be making this commitment. Well they had been living together since they were eighteen, but still, this meant Dick would _never _have a chance with Wally. This realization hit him slow and hard, straight into his chest.

"Y-your wedding?" He choked, and instantly the high of seeing Wally was gone.

"Yeah, I kinda proposed yesterday." Wally was beaming, "She, thankfully, said yes…after a while!"

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Dick demanded, attempting to hide his anger and jealousy that slowly bubbled up inside of him.

"Because you didn't ask!" Dick huffed,

"I shouldn't _have _to ask!" He groaned and ran his hands over his eyes,

"I thought you'd be happy about this." Wally snapped, Dick put up his hands defensively and nodded, attempting to back out of the angry-Wally-zone.

"I'm extremely happy for you! I would love to sing…but…how did you know I sang?" Dick asked,

"You sing in the shower." Wally shrugged, "I thought you sounded pretty awesome." Dick nodded and rubbed his hands together, attempting the clear the sobs and knots from his throat as he cleared it.

"Do you have any songs picked out?" Wally smiled and drew a paper out of his pocket,

"Come To Me and Beautiful Soul, both by Jesse McCartney, just those at the moment. Do you know them?" Wally asked,

"Huh? Oh yeah of course I know them!" Dick forced a small grin onto his lips and took the paper from Wally's hand, letting his hand linger near Wally's longer then need-be.

…

Wally lay awake that night. He watched Artemis' shoulders bob up and down as she inhaled and exhaled. She watched her fluttering eyelashes flicker as she dreamed. He looked at her blonde hair, which was now down and sprawled out all over her form. She was so beautiful. But something dug into the back of his mind. He glanced at his left hand and sighed. He needed to go for a walk.

**Aww snap. **

**Sorry you guys for the extremely long wait, and I know after all that time, this is what I give to you! I'm a horrible person I know! I know it's not really long, but a LOT happens. **

**So yes, it's opening week of the play I'm in right now, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, so I've been very busy with previews and rehearsals and such. So, yes after this week, more updates, expect it! **

**Review though guys! Looking through reviews is what got me motivated to stay up…way too late seeing as I'm sick right now and should be going to bed really early…and writing!**

**So, some of you may be wondering, but yes, the proposal **_**was **_**based on a true story. Pretty much all of it. Even the initial rejection. Haha. Yeah. Not mine! A friend's mother's….it's complicated. **

**REVIEW and…cast your vote for right now, how are you feeling about this engagement, huh? **


	10. Damages

**Sorry for not being here for so long! Tried to do a lot in this chapter, get ready for a wild ride! Everything in here, if confusing now, will make sense later! **

Chapter 10

He simply stared at the wall.

It was a nice wall, a pure white wall.

On this wall there was a little painting hung on the right side that depicted him and his parents. Then, in a slowly sloping line, more pictures. One of him, Wally, and Roy all standing in front of a water slide, completely soaked. Next to that was one of him, Bruce, and Alfred, all sitting around a leather chair. Along side that was Dick and Wally. The red head's arm was draped over Dick's shoulders and both of them wore huge smiles. They were sitting on a park bench, battered and bloodied from head to toe. Jason had taken the picture while he was under the title "Robin", he had been proud of their first, out of costume, no powers, street-brawl. They had "lost" that fight, but it was still an awesome moment for all three of them. But it wasn't this picture that was Dick's favorite. It came a good second, but no, it couldn't claim the number one title. This title was claimed by the picture hidden behind the framed one. The glorious moment had been captured seconds before the first one was a moment of Wally crushing his lips against Dick's cheek. He loved that picture. Sure, it was before he had any feelings for the speedster, still, it caused him to remember the times that they were so close knit that being apart for more than ten minutes was an unbearable occurrence, although, it happened frequently, as they were both grounded almost constantly for their mischievous ways in those days.

All said and done, it was a good wall. There were a few dents and scuffs where it had been bumped or punched on a bad day. He remembered the small crater he had created when he rammed the entertainment center into it the day he first moved in. So many blemishes like the knick right under one of the pictures. This was from being so extremely pissed at Jason when he had first asked him out. Dick was confused and infuriated and had punched the wall as some sort of stress-relief. It hadn't worked. It only succeeded in causing his knuckles to bruise for the next few days. But still, he liked that knick. It was also living proof that he had chose between Jason and Wally.

Walls. They surrounded him. Shielding him off from the outside world. Cutting him off of fresh air. Driving his depression into an even larger spiral. He swung his legs over the side of his bed, hardly causing his sleeping partner to stir.

Turning back and frowning he studied every line of Jason's face. Every little detail. He knew every scar, every little flaw and wound and cut. From the white streak of hair that stood out,like blood on snow, against his dark black hair, down to his smooth forehead. Dick's eyes caught a small little scar that crawled along his skin. The blemish stretched from the far side of his right eyebrow, straight to the center of the brow. It was hardly noticeable, and could be entirely covered with his hair, but still, Dick knew it was there. He loved that scar. He also loved his eyes, they were go bright, and blue-green, hardly reflections of his dark past, but Dick loved them anyway. Along with his crooked nose. It was large, sure. Jagged? Yes. Broken? On many occasions. Pointed? Of course. But it was still was the beautiful centerpiece of his face. It went right along with his sharp cheekbones and pointed, pale lips.

Jason was entirely imperfect, but Jason was _his. _But, now as he honestly thought about it… did he want to be Jason's? He shook his head and slid off the bed before pulling on a pair of jeans and a jacket. He zipped up the coat over his bare chest as he stepped out of the room and tugged on a pair of boots.

Air. He needed air. Thinking air. He had some serious choices to make, things to consider. But it seemed, that now, everything was out of his hands, that he should just take the jacket and shoes off and climb into bed again…and he should probably start singing again.

He stepped out of the bedroom and went to snag his Ipod off of the kitchen counter. Did he have the songs Wally asked for? He pondered this as he flicked through the artists on the small screen. Running his finger along the screen, he finally reached the J's and looked through those. Finding Jesse's name he chose this while he exited the front door and began to make his way down the steps, but one song caught his eye as he scanned. A smile hit his lips and he flipped out his phone, before he knew what he was doing he typed out a text and sent it. Just as the small message popped up saying "Message Sent" Dick froze and nearly dropped his phone, a frown instantly flying to his face.

"Shit…" He gasped, what the hell did he just do?

…

Slinging his legs over the side of the bed Wally snuck over to his boots and jacket and slid them on. He needed to think.

The last time he was out on a walk like this, he has contemplating plans to propose to Artemis, now he was contemplating whether or not he had made the right choice in asking her. Running a hand through his mess of hair he asked himself _Why? _In response all he could think about were those beautiful sparkling blue eyes, that silky raven hair and those soft pink lips. He groaned and sat down on the bottom of the staircase.

"Damn it!" He swore and slammed his fist into the ground next to him. Why was he thinking about Dick like this again? He hadn't thought like this for months, years, and now, all his doubts about marriage, were because of his best friend, his gay best friend, his taken, gay, best friend.

Pulling himself up again he began to run. Running had helped him sort out his feelings about Dick before, it would help him again.

_I am engaged to Artemis. _He thought as he began to pick up the pace. He was nearing the freeway by then, it would be and easy and long enough jog if he followed that.

_ I love Artemis._

_ I have been dating Artemis for nearly 6 years now._

_ I love her. She loves me. _Or so he thought, when was the last time she had told him this? When was the last time he had told her that? Honestly, he couldn't put his finger on a specific time but he needed to think in regards to whether or not they had both meant it.

_ … _

_ Dick… _The name began tying knots in his stomach and began making his heart beat faster.

_ He's my best friend. _

_ He's been with me through thick and thin_

_ He's gay_

_ We've kissed… _No, he couldn't think about that now, he couldn't take that into account while he worked everything out_. _

_Damn it, why does everything have to be so damn complicated?_ He cursed himself as he continued to bolt along the road.

_Artemis…Dick…Artemis…Dick…DAMN IT! _He shook his head in fury and wiped at his now watering eyes, wishing now he had grabbed some goggles.

_Does Art know about Dick? Why would she know? I dunno… they were pretty close friends for a while…maybe he told her? Girls are good for advice. That would make sense…but even if she did know, she'd tell me. Right? … Right? _

Wally screamed up at the sky, too much, too fast. It was just then his phone buzzed in his pocket. He wiped at his eyes and drew the phone from his pocket. _"New Message From Dick" _slid across the screen. He wiped his finger across the phone and read the message, slowing down.

**Why Don't You Kiss Her. **

That was it. Wally blinked and sent a question mark in return, but still, the name sounded familiar. He quickly opened the internet and typed it in the search engine. "_Why Don't You Kiss Her Jesse McCartney Lyrics" _was the first thing to pop up. He clicked on the first link and scanned through the lyrics. He stopped dead in his tracks.

We're the best of friends  
And we share our secrets  
She knows everything that is on my mind  
Lately somethings changed  
As I lie awake in my bed  
A voice here inside my head  
Softly says

Wally's eyes widened as he read through the rest of the lyrics, surely Dick couldn't be send this

this to HIM he gulped and read on

_ … _Why don't you kiss her  
Why don't you tell her  
Why don't you let her see  
The feelings that you hide  
'Cause she'll never know  
If you never show  
The way you feel inside

Oh im so afraid to make that first move  
Just a touch and we  
Could cross the line  
Everytime she's near  
I wanna never let her go  
Confess to her what my heart knows  
Hold her close

Why don't you kiss her  
Why don't you tell her  
Why don't you let her see  
The feelings that you hide  
'Cause she'll never know  
If you never show  
The way you feel inside

What would you say  
I wonder would she just turn away  
Or would she promise me  
That she's here to stay  
It hurts me to wait  
I keep asking myself

Why don't you kiss her (tell her you love her)  
Why don't u tell her (tell her you need her)  
Why don't you let her see  
The feelings that you hide  
'Cause she'll never know  
If you never show  
The way you feel inside...

Why don't you kiss her?

Wally felt unbelievably weak, he sat down on the nearest curb and put his head into his hands and simply stared at the lyrics. How could this be happening? How could Dick do this to him? Why was Dick doing this to him?

…

Artemis pulled herself up in bed, only to find the spot next to her cool and empty. She frowned at the sight of the deserted sheets, still she didn't pay it any mind as she rolled out of bed and straightened out the t-shirt that she was wearing. She stood next to the bed and taking a bundle of the sheet in each hand she flicked it off from the bed. If Wally wasn't going to be here this morning, she would dub it a well-deserved cleaning day.

She removed the rest of the crinkled sheets and padded into the small laundry room just off of the hallway where she shoved them into the half-full washing machine and started it up. Spitfire whimpered beside her, she raised an eyebrow but still bent over and scratched behind his ears.

"What's wrong?" She asked, "Do you know where Daddy ran off to?" Spitfire gave her a shake of his head in return and then licked her hand. She had a feeling he was just hungry. She quickly poured the dog a bowl of food and patted him on the head as he scarfed down the small kibbles. Sliding into the kitchen she realized that the front door was slightly open and unlocked. Swearing she walked over to it and shut it with her hip, "What the hell Wally?" She growled, doing a quick scan of the house to assure there had been no unwanted visitors because of her fiancé's foolishness. Finding the house clear, she went to begin making breakfast.

Hearing the lock click and the door creak open she spun around, bowl of batter still in hand, to face the guilty Wally as he stepped into the house. "Thought I left that unlocked." She heard him grumble to himself as he kicked off his shoes one of them smacking into the wall leaving a small scuff.

"And where were you?" Artemis demanded setting the bowl down and crossing her arms.

"On a run." Wally shrugged and put his discarded jacket on to the couch.

"There's a perfectly good closet right over there!" Artemis sighed and went back to finishing adding ingredients to the mixture on the counter.

"Meh." Was Wally's only reply as he plopped down on the couch. Artemis rolled her eyes at the man but continued to cook. He was certainly in a mood today. She didn't speak after that, hoping Wally would break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen around the two all of a sudden. But the man said nothing as he stared blankly at the television screen. Sighing she plopped the bit of batter into the waffle maker and turned to lean her lower back against the counter, facing Wally.

"Listen, I'm cleaning today so why don't you call Dick or Roy or something?" No answer, "I'll get more done around here if I can just get it all done without any distractions, so why don't you go do something?" Again, no answer. Artemis pursed her lips, was Wally honestly giving her the silent treatment? She huffed and stalked over to the couch. "Are you listening to me?" She demanded, feeling a small tick of irritation.

"I'm guessing you know." Wally suddenly said. Artemis blinked at him, confused.

"What?" She asked,

"About Dick?" Artemis was still completely confused.

"You're best friends. It's not that big of a secret, I've known since we've met." She shrugged, figuring he was playing some sort of game.

"No, about him being…"

"Being what?"

"Gay."

"Oh… I umm" Artemis sighed, "He told you?"

"So you _did _know!" Wally didn't seem angry, more distraught at the information. His eyebrows pulled into a knot and he looked up at Artemis as though she were twenty feet tall. "Why would he tell you?" He demanded,

"I don't know! I'm a girl! He thought I could help or something! Wally, why are you worried about this all of a sudden?" Artemis put her hands on her hips, a bit peeved that he had hardly said 'good morning' to her, and now he was screaming at her about something that happened near 5 years ago!

"You didn't think, hmm, I don't know, that I'd want to know my best friend was _gay?!" _Wally snapped bringing himself up full-sized,

"It wasn't my place to say!" Artemis retorted and turned back to her cooking, hoping that the action would mark the end of the conversation.

"No! You're my fiancé! Isn't there supposed to be a whole '_no secrets' _thing between us, huh? What about that?" Wally demanded, Artemis was taken aback, honestly she didn't see _why _this was such a huge deal to him.

"I'm sorry I respect Richard and his privacy!" Artemis scoffed, sure, Wally had a point, but he would have done that same.

"Oh, so you're saying that this is my fault for wanting to know his business?" Wally swore,

"What? Wally? No! I'm saying that you're being childish! Now why don't you go out like I said and calm the hell down and _think _before you start _yelling _at me!?" Artemis told him, attempting to keep a level head, but the redhead behind her was making this horribly difficult. Spitfire padded in and rubbed his wet nose into Artemis's hand as she clenched it by her side.

"Maybe I will!" Wally huffed back at her, retrieving the clothing that he had discarded only a few minutes before and trudging towards the door.

"Fine!" Artemis screamed after him, throwing a towel from the counter after him as he slammed the door behind him. She leaned against the counter with her head in her hands as Spitfire nuzzled her side, whimpering. "_Damn it!" _She spat, "Why is he so mad?" She asked quietly to the dog, "I didn't fucking do anything!" She growled and pulled herself up slamming her fist against the counter, only to rear back in pain as her hand struck the burning hot pan. She yelped and winced in pain and ran over to the sick. "Fuck, fuck, fuck" She repeated as she attempted to get cool water on the blistering wound. Tears streamed down her face as the water made contact. "DAMN IT WALLY!" She screamed and put her good hand to her face. "This is you fault…" She groaned, still engrossed in the wound she had.

…

The phone responded with a simple "?" Dick's stomach tightened and realized what he had gotten himself into. It wasn't something he could simply back out of. Damn..

**Know the song? **

He messaged him.

_**Yeah. I'm confused. **_

**… know the lyrics?**

_**…Yes.**_

**Well.**

_**Well what? **_

**You know what, never mind. **

_**No! No never mind! **_

**What? **

_**You're telling me this. Why did you send me this? **_

**No, it's fine, forget it. **

_**No. I'm not letting this go, Dick. **_

**Wally, it's not important.**

_**Obviously it is.**_

**I'm drunk.**

_**You're a liar. **_

**No I'm not. I'm horribly, horribly drunk, disregard all of this. **

_**Not gonna happen. You're spilling tomorrow. **_

**Doubtful. Probably wont remember.**

_**No drunk person would admit that. **_

**I'm strange. **

_**Just shut up Dick. **_

**Make me. **

_**Apparently you want me to. **_

**Wally! Shut up! **

_**Whatever, just get some sleep. Sleep it off. **_

**Maybe I will. **

After that, there were no more responses. Dick sighed and rubbed at his eyes, that was _way_ too close.

…

Dick attempted to be as silent as possible as he slipped back into bed. Jason was starting to stir already, his walk had taken far longer than he suspected. It was nearly seven in the morning now, and Jason would probably want some kind of food when he woke up. Dick brushed off the thought, the man could handle himself. He slid in between the thin sheets and cuddled closely to Jason's chest.

"Where were you?" Jason mumbled into Dick's hair, pulling him closer to himself,

"Walking." Dick yawned in response burying his face into Jason's bare chest. The other man grunted in response,

"Should I be jealous?" He rumbled quietly.

"…Not at all." Dick whispered back at him and fell asleep in his boyfriend's arms.

…

Bruce was tired, it was a long drive over, but Dick deserved some scolding for 'forgetting' to show up for his practice sessions with the little ones. He grumbled to himself, having already been at the wheel for nearly three hours, he was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. But, some scolding and then some bonding time with his son wouldn't hurt.

He pulled into the parking complex of the apartment building and killed the engine. Dick was going to get scolded whether or not either of them wanted to go through it. But his fatherly duties called for this. _Damn it Dick, you're nearly twenty, can't you handle yourself for ten minutes? _Bruce growled to himself as he pounded up the stairs to Dick's apartment. Once he had reached the door he drew a spare key from his pocket, clicked it in the lock before pushed the door open. Usually the little bird was prancing around making breakfast and singing softly to himself at this point. Oh no, wait; he's probably grown too old for that. Bruce huffed and shut the door behind him,

"Richard! Dick, it's Bruce!" He called, hoping Dick was just in the back room, seeing as he was no where to be found in the kitchen or living room. There was no response as he continued into the house. "Dick?" Bruce called again and headed towards the bedroom where Dick might still have been asleep. He pushed open the door and allowed the wood to swing open revealing an extremely dark room. Dick had blocked out the windows with two large comforters, Bruce didn't blame him, being a hero by night took its toll.

He saw a tuff of black hair sticking out from under the thin sheets and sighed, "wake up Dick." He demanded and flipped on the lights. There was a yelp. No, two yelps. Bruce looked confused as two figures scrambled around and fell off the bed.

"Shit!" A gruff voice swore, definitely not Dick. Bruce stiffened and his hand automatically went to the batarang he had stashed in his belt.

"Owowowowowowowowow." This voice belonged to Dick, now Bruce was extremely confused. But slowly he made the connection. Dick. In bed. With some guy. Waking up late…He felt a sudden tornado of rage dash through him as he bolted towards the other guy. He grabbed the poor soul by the shoulder and hoist him up to get a good look at him.

"Hiyya Brucie." Jason Todd coughed back at him. Bruce's eyes widened. Jason. Todd. In bed. With Dick. So many things were happening at once. He did the only logical thing. He socked Jason square in the face.

…

Dick hadn't expected Bruce to show up at his house. Nor had he expected him to punch Jason across the face once he walked in on them. Not something he had foreseen at all. He was now holding a bag of frozen vegetable medley to Jason's swollen nose as he lay on his lap. Bruce was fuming, holding a bag of frozen peas to his knuckle as he glared at Dick, as if demanding an explanation for this horrible atrocity that had just permanently burned its way into his cornea.

"So umm… long drive here?" Dick attempted and brushed a lock of long black hair out of his face.

"Yup." Bruce grumbled back. Dick nodded,

"Yeah, … lots of traffic?" Bruce nodded again,

"Yep." He grunted, he obviously wanted to ask Dick the question, but was most likely too… uncomfortable to come up with the words to ask.

"So I'm guessing you're kind of curious as to what's going on?" Dick finally sighed and looked down at his feet.

"Yes, I am." Bruce attempted to soften his look when his eyes met Dick's but he failed miserably and merely succeeded in glaring at him even more.

"Well me and Jason have been dating for a while."

"Few months." Jason said, his voice sounding a bit nasally because of his busted nose.

"How many is 'a few'?"

"A few…" Dick smiled.

"You didn't tell me, why? Bruce questioned,

"I umm… it kind of slipped my mind." Dick attempted, Bruce simply glared in response, "Okay, I thought you wouldn't want me and Jason to date and you'd try and get me to break up with him." Dick said quickly attempting to end this conversation as quickly as possible.

"Ah." Bruce sighed and began to rub his brow, "Now tell me _why _you thought it was a good idea to date a criminal?" Bruce demanded without any regard to the squeak of protest coming from Jason at the word 'criminal'

"Shush babe." Dick tutted Jason and then turned to Bruce, "It wasn't exactly a _planned _thing! It just kind of happened! He's not that bad Bruce, you of all people should know that!" Bruce sighed, Dick bit his bottom lip, he knew Bruce would have another onslaught of questions.

…

"Hi." Wally said awkwardly as he scuffed the toe of his shoe against the mat in front of Roy's apartment. The other red head sighed and opened the door. "Hi Lian." Wally waved at the small girl that was in Roy's arms before walking inside. "She not at her mom's this weekend?"

"Nah, she was 'busy'." Roy scoffed and balanced Lian on his hip, Wally held out his arms to take the child, which Roy happily complied with. Lian giggled and clambered into Wally's arms. Wally smiled at her and nuzzled his nose against hers.

"Why are you here?" Roy instantly demanded as he began walking into the kitchen. Wally groaned, he didn't want to get to business so soon.

"Artemis…" He mumbled,

"Fight?" Roy asked,

"Yup."

"About."

"Dick." Roy turned to look over his shoulder while he rummaged through nearly barren cabinets for something to eat, "Richard." Wally clarified, knowing what Roy was going to ask.

"What about him?" Roy pulled a half empty bag of chips out one of the cabinets and walked back over to where Wally and Lian were standing. "Sit." He instructed pointing at the couch,

"Wanna sit?" Wally asked Lian. She puffed out her cheeks and pointed at the floor.

"Down!" She demanded, Wally shrugged and set her down on the floor. She scurried away into the back room, most likely to get a few Barbie's for the three to play with.

"So what was this argument about?" Roy asked, taking the opportunity for Lian to be gone to pull out a smokeless cigarette and take a drag.

"Well um…he had told _her _something and neither of them told me and yeah." Wally said quickly attempting to dance around the words 'Dick is' and 'gay'.

"Just '_something'?_" Roy questioned raising a slender red eyebrow.

"Well a big something!" Wally squeaked, when Roy simply motioned him with his hand he knew he really couldn't get around the subject, "Okay, so Dick told Artemis he was gay like five years ago and she never told me which I mean, it's understandable at first, but when he continues to be gay and doesn't 'grow out of it' like everyone else I mean really that's typically something that you tell his best friend and your own fiancé! Right? Come on, tell me I'm right here!" Roy sat there, frozen, not saying anything before he leaned back into the couch,

"You know, that explains _a lot_." He shrugged, "Now, how did you find this out?"

"I kind of…went to his house and…"

"Tell me he didn't kiss you again!"

"I kissed him last time! What? Wait! No! I kind of interrupted him and his…boyfriend." Roy sat back up at this and leaned over to Wally,

"Boyfriend? He has a boyfriend?" Wally nodded,

"Jason Todd."

"Oh my God." Roy blinked a few times before running a quick hand through his hair, "This is a lot." Wally nodded, "Didn't see that one coming."

"Yeah me either." Wally agreed and rubbed his palm across his face in an attempt to wipe away some of the exhaustion that was creeping up on him.

"So why were you arguing?"

"The whole she knew, I didn't thing" Wally shrugged,

"How bad did it get?"

"Not too bad. I left before it got out of hand."

"You left?"

"She kicked me out."

"That's what I thought. You know that is how my separation started. Just little fights."

"You two were trying to kill each other."

"That's against the point. What I'm saying Wally is don't let the fights get out of hand! If it goes too far, don't hit her. That's bad." Wally gawked,

"Did you ever actually like, _hit _her?!" Roy put up a hand,

"At work? Yeah, all the time. I shot her a few times. At home? No. She hit me once. Over the head. With a hairdryer. That bitch." Roy grumbled rubbing the spot on his head that the hairdryer had stuck a few months back.

"Dada!" Lian yelled from the other room as she waddled in. "Wawee!" She had three Barbies clutched to her chest as she entered, "Play!" She insisted coming over to them and thrusting two of the dolls at them.

"Right now?" Roy sighed,

"Now." Lian confirmed and sat down in between the two on the couch, holding the doll at the ready for some serious game of house. Wally sighed but still, shifted a bit so that the doll was level with Lian's. Roy was a bit more practiced in his daddying stills as his doll was already posing as well. Lian giggled manically and started to set up the scene. They were going to be buying invisible shoes.

…

Artemis held the phone in between her ear and her shoulder and waited as it dialed. "M'gann?" She asked when the ringing stopped.

"Hey Art!" The Martian beamed from the other line. "How are you?"

"Alright." Artemis shrugged as she began to squirt a bottle of Windex onto the bedroom window. "Could be better, how are you?"

"I'm wonderful. Now hon, what's wrong?" She demanded softly. Artemis sighed and put the Windex on the side table, trading it off for a rag.

"Wally was just…idiotic today." She sighed. M'gann gave an 'Mmm hmm' in response, but then stayed silent, prodding Artemis to continue with an explanation. "Well I mean, he left at some ungodly hour last night to go and run, and came back when I was making breakfast just to yell at me!" M'gann huffed at this.

"He _yelled _at you?" She questioned, she sounded just as preoccupied as Artemis was, most likely working with some of the younger members of the team.

"I guess…well we kind of yelled back and forth. Then I burned myself" Artemis scuffed her foot against the floor and wiped down the bubbles that were caused by the spray.

"Genius…Over what?"

"Well…I mean…it's complicated." Artemis didn't want to spill to M'gann that Dick was gay if he hadn't even felt comfortable enough to tell Wally.

"I have time." Was M'gann's response.

"It's stupid. Something Dick told me but didn't tell him and now he's all pissy about it!" Artemis told the extremely amended version of the story, attempting to appease M'gann's curiosity.

"Well, what did he tell you?"

"Something about some…relationship or another." Artemis tried.

"What relationship?" M'gann prodded.

"…A relationship." Artemis said and then quickly changed the subject, "It doesn't matter! So, I mean. I don't really know what to do…because this isn't my fault! But Wally isn't going to be able to see that!"

"He should."

"M'gann, he's not going to." Artemis told her, sure that the _last _thing Wally was going to do, was come through that door an apologize, telling her everything was _his _fault. "I just…should I drop the subject? Or just talk to him about it?" Artemis asked,

"Talk to him about it! You can't kill a spider just because you put a rug over it, right?"

"What?"

"You can't end the topic just because you cover it up with other talk!" M'gann clarified, "Now, when he comes home, talk to him about it, don't just let it sit between you guys!" Artemis nodded and slung the towel over her shoulder, moving to the next room.

"I guess." She sighed. "Thanks. Oh, M'gann how are you and Conner?"

"Eh…" M'gann murmured and began to spill about their latest break up.

…

Dick watched as Jason pulled that damn white box out of his pocket while they walked down the street. "No." was all that he said. Jason cocked an eyebrow at him and still pulled out one of the white cancer sticks. "No." Dick repeated while his boyfriend popped the cigarette into his mouth. "No." He said again. Still, Jason didn't listen as he stared at Dick and pulled a lighter from his pocket. "No." He warned again. Jason flicked his thumb across the lighter and the flame ignited. "No." Dick's voice got a bit sterner as Jason put the lighter to the cigarette. "Damn it Jason!" Dick growled and pulled his arm away from the other man. "I said no!" He pointed out. Jason shrugged,

"So?" Dick groaned and began to stalk ahead of Jason. "Whoa! Whoa! Are you serious right now?" He laughed half-heartedly. Dick glared at him over his shoulder.

"Very." Jason grabbed Dick's arm and spun him around.

"Why are you so pissed?" He demanded pulling the cigarette away from his lips and letting out a slender puff of smoke as he spoke.

"I'm a little stressed out right now, and I already told you that when you smoke it gives me headaches!" Dick snapped, he was strung far to tight right now.

"Why are you so stressed?" Dick's eyes widened in disbelief.

"You're kidding me, right?"

"What?" Jason rose his hands in defense, "What's wrong?" Dick groaned and turned on his heel to storm away again. Jason moaned and followed after him, "Hon, wait! Babe! Dick!" Jason trotted after the fuming man, "What is up your ass? Damn!" He scoffed as Dick swirled around once again.

"Up my ass?" Dick demanded, "You know what, I don't know, maybe Bats just found out about us and I had no intention to tell him! He probably hates us both now! The League is gonna be riding my ass for skipping out on my training! My best friend is getting married and is expecting me to sing in front of everyone there! I now have an enormous headache! And you're being a douche! And that jealous thing this morning, what was that about?!" Jason took a step back and threw his cigarette on the ground, stomping it out with his foot.

"What jealous… you know what, no listen, I'm sorry!" Jason held his hands up, " and look, cigarette is gone, better?" Dick shook his head and put his fingers on his temples,

"Just…too much going on." He grumbled. Jason wrapped his arms around Dick's shoulders and pulled him into his chest. Dick sighed and let the man hug him. "Sorry…" He whispered.

"It's fine." Jason murmured. Dick felt utterly at ease for the first time in a while. This was before he felt Jason's hand's slide down his back and rest at the small of his back. He grit his teeth and prayed he wasn't about to do what he thought. Just as he silently prayed he felt a smack against his ass. He yelled and shoved back.

"For fuck's sake!" Dick snapped at him and began to trudge away. Jason frowned, but for the moment decided it was for the best if he didn't follow him.

…

"Damn it." Dick growled as he pounded on the door of the only safe place he could think of. Bab's house. He fist rammed against the door as he waited for it to open. Soon enough he heard the lock click and the door opened slightly.

"Opp, sorry, got company. Talk to you later, kay? Mmm hmm. Yeah. Oh no, it's Dick. Ha, I know right? Alright, yeah he's just an ass! Alright. Talk to you- yes honey. You're prettier. Alright, I really have to go. Bye!" Bab's spoke into the phone from the other side of the door. She wheeled back a bit and unlocked the rest of the door. "Hey!" She smiled as Dick stepped in.

"Hi." Dick grinned at her,

"Oh wow, Dick you look terrible, are you alright?" Barbara asked as she looked up at him. Dick shrugged, "Come sit down!" She insisted and followed Dick as he went to the couch. "Now spill." She instructed as she went into the kitchen, "Want a drink?" She called.

"Beer." Dick said simply.

"Try again." Barbara sighed,

"Vodka?" Dick suggested.

"Nope."

"Wine?" He asked,

"I got sparkling cider. I can put it in a fancy glass. Oh! Wait, no! I found a beer." Bab's wheeled in the room and handed Dick an opened beer, Dick accepted it with a 'thank you' and pressed the bottle to his lips.

"What happened?" Babs asked again.

"Bats found out." Dick muttered,

"Crap…" She sighed, "How'd he do that?"

"He broke into my house." Dick shrugged, Barbara believed it, that seemed like a very Bruce thing to do.

"I'm sorry hon. How's he take it?"

"He didn't kill me. But he didn't look happy." Dick shrugged and then proceeded to tell Barbara about the fuming that Bruce had done when he found out the details of the relationship.

"Wow…" She muttered, "I'm sorry, listen, he's just going to need time to adjust, okay?"

"And there's something else…" Dick whispered and held his phone forward to her, "I sent that song to Wally." Barbara read the lyrics and looked up at him,

"Bat's isn't going to have to worry about Jason for long, is he?" Dick looked down,

"I honestly don't know…"

**Ahhh! Craziness! Wally and Artemis are arguing? Where will that lead? Dick and Jason don't seem to be doing so hot either! What is going on there? What is Bats gonna do? How will this all fold out? **

**How do YOU think it should fold out? **

**Alright! Now time to cover some business, I know that every story has its readers, and in turn people that don't like it. The only reason I'm saying this is because of some people commenting or messaging me with some words about this story. You don't like the story. Don't read. It's as simple as that. I'm writing this for the people that want to read it and for myself, not for people to hate on, so if you don't like it, there's an "x" button at the top of your screen to leave, no one is stopping you. **

**NOW! On a lighter note, it's almost summer, which means more writing time! I'm balancing a couple stories at the moment, all of them with like 10 pages per chapter (this one is 13) so it's all a little crazy. **

**ALL IN ALL REVIEW! IT HELPS ME MOVE SO MUCH FASTER! EVERYTIME I GET A REVIEW I WRITE! SO WRITE ME SOME STUFF! **

**Today's question: **

**How is Bats going to react? **


	11. Daggers

**I am so sorry, I don't even have an excuse other that I've working and lacking internet. **

**Enjoy~**

Jason sat uncomfortably in front of Bruce. It felt like it had been ages since the two had been sitting within a hundred foot radius and had not been attempting to choke the other the death. But now, Jason was awkwardly planted in the front room of the Wayne manor twiddling his thumbs and occasionally flicking his lighter as Bruce poured himself a small glass of scotch and sat down rubbing at his brow.

"Thank you for coming." The billionaire finally spoke after a long sip of the alcohol, Bruce sucked in a breath as if the statement had hurt him in some way, "Especially on such short notice, must've been quite the drive." Jason could tell it was taking every fiber in Bruce's body not to lash out and strangle him to death for befouling his son.

"It's no problem, really." Jason said attempting to sound calm as his heart raced in his chest, "But yeah, the drive was a bitch." He tried to chuckle awkwardly, but was shot down as Bruce sent him a cold glare. The stare caused Jason to gulp, this wasn't going well.

"All I have is a few questions." Bruce sighed, Jason motioned him to go on with a wave of his hand, "I'd really rather not do this over phone, seeing as the paparazzi has been tapping into my phone line as of late and- what is that look for?" Bruce demanded stiffening as Jason's eyes widened and his lips pulled downwards into a uncomfortable frown,

"Is the Bat-" He began, Bruce put up a hand stopping Jason before he could ask they same question nearly everyone he told about his tapped phone-lines had asked him.

"Anything having to do with the Batman is so secure, even Cyborg couldn't hack it without me having time to stop it." Bruce informed him, as if he was reassuring him that everything was alright. Jason nodded and rubbed at his mouth with his hands,

"Continue." He gestured and leaned forward so his elbows rested against his separated knees.

"And I don't want Dick's little…secret…getting out." Bruce finished, his look softening a bit, "Listen Jason, I can tell you don't want you to be here, and I sure as hell don't want you here, but I need to do this." Jason blinked, but rubbed the back of his neck,

"So do I." Jason told him, "For Dick's sake." Bruce raised an eyebrow, "He wasn't happy about you finding out, in all honesty though, it was my fault." Jason sighed, "I told him to come back home when he was supposed to be at mountain thing, whatever you guys call it now." The older man gave him a small grunt to tell him to continue, "Yeah, well he came home so we could go out and then well, Wally came over later and dropped some pretty big news and he just, I don't know, hasn't been up for going back. It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't called him back home." Jason sighed and dragged his hands along his face, his palms scratching at the stubble beginning to form on his face.

"Well I'm glad you did." Bruce informed him, Jason raised an eyebrow, "Otherwise I never would have found out that my son was dating the likes of you." Jason scoffed,

"I'm not breaking up with him, Bruce, I know what you're going to tell me to do, and the answer is 'no'." Bruce narrowed his eyes and sat up a bit.

"Jason, you are a killer, a criminal, and a thief, I will _not _have Dick dating the likes of you. I hardly want him fighting or being near vile men such as yourself, let alone swapping spit." Jason gave out a thick snort.

"Well Brucie, suck it up, because I sure as hell am not going to break up with him! Now cut this shit out and tell me what you came here to ask me, other than telling me to break the only rock I have." Bruce looked a bit taken aback but still, straightened himself up enough so that he could look the slightly shorter Jason straight in the eye,

"How the hell did this start?! I need to make sure it wasn't some one-night-stand that he could shake off." Jason puffed out his chest and was able to recall the moment perfectly.

…

_ Jason was sure that Dick wasn't sure how to respond. All he felt was rough lips pressed against his own, large hands intertwined within his hair and a big body pushing up against him, putting him between the wall and the force that was nearly on top of him at the moment. Dick had frozen under his grip and neither pulled away nor pulled closer. Finally, Jason broke off and took a few staggers back. Dick blinked. Jason stood there looking entirely serious for once in his life there was no sudden laugh and then punch in the face. He seemed entirely, completely, serious. Dick gulped. Jason tossed his hood between his hands heart racing and face flushed a deep color of red as raised his head up again to look at Dick, then, back down at the helmet. He was waiting for an answer, but Dick wasn't sure he had correctly heard the question. He thought Jason just asked him out…like to be his boyfriend. Usually, someone would take him on a date before asking, but no, Jason just asked. Dick blinked again. _

_ "Huh?" Was all he could manage Jason sighed his stomach tightening even more, and looked back up at him, _

_ "Will you, umm… Nightwing," Jason awkwardly threw in Dick's name, "like to go out with me?" He finished. Dick blinked again, there they were, standing on top of a building that Jason had nearly punched him off of ten minutes prior (Dick's nose still hurt to prove it, and he was pretty damn sure it was bleeding a bit) and now he was asking him to be his boyfriend. _

_How the hell did he know he was gay? _

_He didn't._

_Did someone tell him? No, he was just praying that it would be true. _

_Did he find it out? No, but right about now he was wishing he knew for certain. _

_What if this was a joke? Jason had never been so serious in his life._

_Some sick joke that all of the criminals were in on, and everyone would ask him out until he said yes and they could prove him to be gay? Jason could never bring himself to do something so horrible to Dick. _

_Dick looked back at Jason. It took him a few seconds, but he could see it. He could see the honesty in Jason's eyes. The same honesty he had shown when he first became Robin and he swore to protect Gotham with all his might. He wasn't lying. _

_ "Jas…Red, I umm." Dick didn't know what to say, "Do you want to go out to coffee with me?" Dick asked, hell, he'd give it a shot. _

_ "Is that a yes?" Jason questioned, not letting his stiff stance down, _

_ "It's a maybe." Dick nodded and then, attempted to pull himself together, pushed Jason back a little, and back flipped off the lip of the building. He felt like he looked pretty bad ass that way. Jason starred after him and did a quick punch in the air. _

_ "Yes!" He laughed to himself and felt all the feeling leaving his body, making him feel extremely weightless. _

…

Bruce stared at Jason as he explained what happened.

"You just…asked?" He said in what Jason could have sworn was disbelief.

"Well, to an extent, yes. You heard what happened." Jason shrugged, it was always amazing looking back and thinking how Jason doing something so horribly stupid to ask Dick out, actually ended up working.

"That first date, what happened?" Bruce demanded, Jason groaned,

"Come on Bats, you aren't going to make me tell you everything that's happened are you?" Bruce grinned,

"Every. Detail." Jason moaned and began attempting to remember what had happened. 

…

_ "Where are we going?" Dick yelled over the roar of the engine and tightened his grip around Jason's waist, pushing his face into Jason's leather jacket. _

_ "Out of town!" Jason called back. Dick nodded, Jason was sure he understood. Anywhere in Gotham would have been a death sentence had Bruce been out on the town at that point. Not only that but headlines reading "Dick Grayson Out With Mystery Man" probably would require lies and extreme amounts of false explanations, to everyone. Seeing as the paparazzi believed he was straight. _

_ The ride was pleasant to say in the least. The weather was just right; the sun was on their backs warming them while not blazing in their eyes. Jason's heart was beating loudly, and seeing as Dick's face was pressed right against his back, he was sure he could hear it. Jason's face flushed a bit at the thought of Dick thinking he was embarrassed or nervous and tried to slow his heart rate down a little. He finally was able to smile as it hit him. There he was, sitting on his lovely motorcycle, with a lovely man he had been secretly in love with since he saw him while he was still Robin. Think of it as a child hood crush come true._

_ "Here we are." Jason smiled Dick looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, but still, he took off his helmet. Jason turned to him and chuckled slightly before reaching over and patting down a lock of Dick's hair that had gone haywire. Dick blushed as his hand lingered on the top of his head. Dick smiled at him and put his hand on top of his head to assist the taming of the unruly lock of hair. Jason's face lit up as he felt the soft skin of Dick's hand against his own. _

_ "Got it." Jason smirked as he managed to get the hair down and removed his hand from Dick's hair. _

_ "So, where are we?" Dick asked, turning and looking at an extremely quant looking café that looked to be just out side of the Gotham area. _

_ "Just a little place I like to grab a bite once and a while." Jason shrugged and began heading to the door. Dick nodded and gave him an 'ah' but didn't say much else as he followed after Jason. The man grabbed the door before Dick could snag it and opened it for him, holding it so that Dick could slip through. _

_ "Thanks." Dick sent him a smile and then walked up to the front desk so they could be seated. _

…

_ "Okay, okay. My turn." Jason laughed a bit after a few rounds of question-and-answer. Dick raised his eyebrow but took another light sip of his beer. _

_ "Shoot." He grinned, _

_ "How many of those have you had?" Jason joked and tapped his foot against the back of Dick's calf. Dick grinned and leaned forward, _

_ "About 3 too many." He said directly to Jason's face and kicked him in return. _

_ "In other words, you're drunk." Dick crinkled his nose a bit and shook his head, _

_ "Maybe a little." He slurred, Jason couldn't help but laugh as Dick swayed slightly in his seat, _

_ "You know, you are the first person I've seen that has managed to get themselves drunk off their ass in the middle of a family restaurant…and I know some pretty hardcore alcoholics." Jason stood and went to pay the waitress, "Just wait here alright. Don't do anything stupid in the 2 seconds I'm gone." Dick flashed him a thumbs up and went back to his beer. Jason rolled his eyes, "I thought it'd be __**me**__ getting drunk tonight." He sighed to himself as he paid for the meal and returned to Dick who was standing now. The original Boy Wonder was stumbling towards him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. _

_ "You…" he hiccupped, "You didn't have to do that." Dick slurred, "I woulda gotten it." He pulled out his wallet as if to show Jason that he was indeed capable. Jason gave him a reassuring look and patted his hand,_

_ "Maybe next time." He told him,_

_ "It's a date." Dick nodded and went to climb on the motorcycle. "Hey, lemme drive, kay?" He said motioning for Jason to give him the keys. The Red Hood only replied with a shake of his head. _

_ "Put on your helmet." He sighed and handed the item over to Dick. _

_ "Now I'm good. Com'on!" He flushed a deep red as Jason practically sat on his lap, _

_ "Nope." The younger man replied and forced Dick to scoot back a little as he roared the engine to life. "Next time." Dick huffed in annoyance but still buried his face into Jason's back and almost immediately passed out. _

…

_ The ride back to Dick's apartment was short, Jason got off of his seat and got Dick up and off of the bike. Blüdhaven's mighty hero hiccupped and staggered as Jason helped him up into his house. _

_ "Let's get you to bed." Jason laughed at him, Dick simply snorted but didn't put up any resistance. _

_ "Yessah." Dick nodded and clambered into his bed where several pair of clothes were still laying out. "Come sleep with me." Dick asked holding out his hands and clinging onto Jason's sleeve. The man sighed and attempted to pull the fingers off from around his leather jacket. _

_ "No." He said simply, "Maybe next time." He repeated for what seemed like the thousandth time that night. _

_ "Next time?" Dick looked at him as if he was demanding the man to swear to him. _

_ "Next time." Jason assured. "Now Dick, go to bed." Dick grumbled something to himself but still patted the sheets next to him. Jason rolled his eyes but slid off his shoes, jacket and shirt and sat down next to the drunk hero. Dick scrambled up onto his lap and curled up into a ball in the covers, _

"_This time." Dick muttered and he was instantly asleep as Jason began to stoke some of the hair out of his face. Jason chuckled to himself. Dick was extremely warm and he was slightly snoring. The Red Hood rolled his eyes and attempted to squiggle from Dick's grasp. Finding this to be impossible he plopped down against the pillows and hoisted Dick on top of him and let his eyes slowly droop closed. _

…

Bruce nodded, he seemed almost appeased that Jason had waited to do anything with Dick. But he still wasn't too happy about what he had caught them doing. Jason rubbed his hand along the length of the armrest on the chair and looked at Bruce,

"Happy?" He asked, Bruce gave him a nod and cleared his throat,

"I suppose you pass." He said bluntly. Jason looked at him,

"What?" He demanded and shot him a confused look,

"You're allowed to date Dick." Jason blinked a few times before comprehending,

"Oh…" Bruce started to say something but was cut off when Jason pulled something out of his pocket, "Good, now I have to ask you about something."

…

"Wally?" Artemis said into the messaging system of Wally's cell phone, "Wally, please, just come home okay? I know you're probably still mad at me, and I'm so sorry, but please, just come home so we can talk, kay?" She clicked the 'end call' button for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. Wally hadn't as much as text her or told her where he was going. "Damn it, Wally." Artemis whispered and lightly coughed into her arm. She had to calm down, Wally was never this angry with her, he would get over it soon enough.

Artemis put her phone into her pocket before an idea clicked into her head. She reached for her phone again and went to her contacts, attempting to find the man's number that was certainly letting Wally stay over. She found Roy's home phone number and dialed it. She would get a hold of Wally if it killed her.

The phone rang once before Roy's voice filled the other line,

"Harper here." He said,

"Roy, where is Wally?" she snapped,

"Oh, hi Artemis." Roy sighed, "Huh? Yeah, it's her… Oh?... Really?... Kay…It's your ass on the line, not mine… Well I'm not going to argue with her for you!...Do you _want _the phone? … Then shut up! Kay, bye Art." Then the line went dead. Wally…Wally had told Roy to hang up on her. Artemis gawked at the beeping phone and clicked it shut. Wally could be childish, but this was honestly the worst she had ever seen it. She closed her eyes and rubbed at them with the tips of her fingers. Spitfire nuzzled his damp nose against her leg as if asking what was wrong with her. She smiled at him through teary eyes as he whimpered and pushed his nose harder against her palm, "It's okay bud, Daddy is gonna come home soon." She turned away slightly, "although not soon enough." Rubbing at her leaking eyes with her undamaged hand she stared at the white bandage that was wrapped around the burn on her hand and bit her lip, Wally would be back before that healed. That was his deadline.

With this settled Artemis moved into her bathroom, stripped carefully out of her clothes and started the water.

…

Bruce didn't say anything, but he blinked. There could be no way that Jason had just asked him what he thought he did. Jason didn't as much as take in a breath until Bruce opened his mouth,

"Jason…" Bruce whispered, "if I let you do this, you have to promise me something." Jason nodded eagerly,

"Anything! Just tell me what it is!" Bruce stared him straight in the eye, his brow furrowing and his grey eyes in a cold stare, "If you do this, you need to promise me to give up crime. No more killing, no more stealing, no more excuses." Jason had a feeling this would be the case, but he had still not come to the conclusion of what he would do, he couldn't simply drop everything, go work some desk job like the average Joe, he could stop and not expect some sort of retaliation from his clients and supposed allies. But he knew he'd have to if he wanted this, and good God he wanted this. Badly.

"Bruce, I can't promise that I'll never get into another fight, but-"

"Jason, I know I'm asking you to do a lot, but how about this, why don't you come back, come back and fight with us again. Move against crime, not with it." Jason chuckled,

"Do you honestly think I would _ever_ be accepted into the ranks of the Justice League again?" Jason scoffed, "Do you ever think I'd _want _to be accepted into the Justice League?" Bruce sighed, knowing that would be his answer,

"I know we've had our quarrels, but Jason, I'll respect your choice, but the invitation is always open. It gets kind of boring without you around in all honesty." Bruce chuckled, "I miss having my boys around."

"You have Tim."

"Tim lives with his father."

"Barbara."

"She moved out a long time ago, she only comes to visit on occasion." Jason looked to the ground,

"I'm sorry Bruce, I'm not coming back, that's too much. Hell, I'm still not technically moved in with Dick. Why would I come back here?" Bruce shrugged,

"Just a hopeful old man I suppose." Jason laughed,

"I don't think 40 counts as old, Grandpa." Jason tutted and went to stand, "But I suppose I'll accept. Maybe I'll even get a job somewhere that uses my skills,"

"Become a cop."

"Oh, highly unlikely. Well it's been fun Bats. I accept your grounds, but don't expect me over here for holidays." Bruce shrugged,

"I can hope." Jason waved at Bruce and walked out of the room, content with the decision.

…

Wally was in deep shit. He could have told that from the way that Artemis' voice rang out from the other end of the line. Roy put the phone down on the receiver and turned to him.

"I don't like doing your dirty work." Roy grumbled and turned back to his cigarette. Taking a long drag he leaned against the side table that the phone sat on. "What are you going to do?" He asked when Wally stayed silent, the man in question bit his lip and attempted to think of something to do. "You know you're just making things worse by not talking to her about it. This whole thing is small, it could just blow over, that and I don't want all my clothes smelling like depression and BO." Wally rolled his eyes and tugged absentmindedly on the shirt Roy had lent him,

"It's better then the smell of desperation, drugs and smoke." Wally said back with a sneer, Roy smacked him along the back of his head and plopped down next to him on the couch,

"What are you going to do?" He demanded simply, Wally shrugged,

"Try not to get murdered by my fiancé."

"She wont be your fiancé for long if you keep this shit up." Roy insisted, Wally had a sinking feeling that he was right,

"Flowers and chocolates?" Roy snorted,

"You'll need a lot more than that. But you know, the longer that you don't talk to her, the madder she'll get." Wally nodded, an angry Artemis was not a good thing for anyone, especially when she aimed low when she hit, and her being this mad probably meant he should wear a cup when he went to apologize.

"What do you think I should get her?"

"I think you should get your ass over there and think of something on the way." Roy said, it was then that Lian ran out with a hand full of drawing supplies and origami paper,

"Wawweee!" She screeched as she ran out, "Daddy said that Aunty Arty is angry at you because you did a bad thing! So! So! Draw her a picture!" She gasped as she let out the entire sentence in one breath, "I always draw mama and dada a picture when they're mad at me!" Roy nodded and pointed to the fridge that was covered in drawings and sketches,

"She thinks I'm mad at her a lot." He admitted, Wally laughed and held out his hand for the paper, he was no artist, but for Artemis, this seemed to be the perfect gift. He took the paper and pencil and settled down on the table, moving an ash tray out of his way and sitting down on the floor,

"I'm gonna get daddy paper too! Maybe he can draw a picture for mommy!" Roy tried to crack a smile as Lian toddled into the other room.

"She's still holding out hope that we'll get back together." Roy whispered sounding apathetic, "I think she's the only one that still it." Wally nodded, he really hoped this never happened between him and Artemis, but he somehow had a creeping feeling that it would.

"I'm sorry man," was all Wally could think to say, "Must be tough on the kid," Roy nodded,

"Wally, just make sure, if you ever have kids, that they never have to deal with a life like this. Ever." Roy gave Wally a serious look, Wally choked with a nod.

"Promise." He nodded, "I dunno if I'll ever have kids. I mean, I always wanted a family, but, doesn't seem like it's going to happen right now." Roy shrugged,

"I never thought I was going to have a kid either."

"It's different, Lian wasn't planned." Wally poked at him and went to begin his drawing.

…

"Dick. I'm going." Jason said firmly taking his duffle bag into his hands and stepping forward threateningly towards the door.

"No. You aren't." Dick grumbled crossing his arms and planting his foot on the ground. "Jason I'm not letting you take this one. No way in hell. Not this case. Not this time." Jason pulled out his red hood from his bag and began twirling it around in his hands. "Put it back." Dick huffed, Jason simply glared at him and unclipped the back of his mask. "Jason. We've talked about this. No more killing."

"Dick, you know how much money I'll be out of if I don't take this. We've talked about that." Dick shook his head,

"And I said no." He said bluntly. Jason rolled his eyes and put the hood over his head. "Damn it Jason. Take it off." Jason simply stood there

"Move Dick. I'm going." Jason growled and took as step forward, "Now move or I'll miss my flight."

"That's the plan." Dick said bluntly and slid back resting his back against the door.

"Dick, get your ass out of my way."

"No. You aren't leaving." He grumbled pointedly.

"Richard." Jason sighed, "Move" and closed the distance between them putting his hands on Dick's shoulders.

"Jason Peter Todd, put your stuff back in that room, right, now. You aren't going to kill that poor man."

"Poor man? Dick! You don't know who this man is! He could be a homicidal maniac for all you know."

"Do _you_ even know who this man is?" Dick puffed out his chest and jammed a finger into his boyfriends chest. Jason didn't back down.

"No. And I don't want to." He hoisted Dick up and moved him away from the door. "Good bye." He said lifting up his bag and moving out the door.

"You walk out that door I'm not letting you back in!" Dick yelled, Jason turned around and flipped up his mask, giving the fuming Dick a light peck and then turned and walked out the door.

"See you in three days!" Jason said with a wave, "and I have keys, so don't try and lock me out." Jason laughed and was gone.

"Fuck you, Todd!" Dick screamed after him, Jason flashed him a heart with his hands and hoped on his motorcycle.

…

"He just up and walked out?" Barbara asked, balancing the phone between her cheek and shoulder as she rolled down the bread isle of the grocery store attempting to find a specific bread her and Dick had at a restaurant last week. She thought it would cheer him up.

"Yes! He said he was off on some 'case' in California! Said he had to off someone there for a client." Dick's shaky voice came from the other line.

"Barbara!" Her father called as he walked up, the bread she was searching for in hand.

"What kind of case- oh sweet, where'd you find it?" Barbara asked, she grinned and accepted the bread, putting it into the basket that rested on her lap

"Bakery." The Commissioner shrugged and picked up a bag of fresh-made bagels.

"Ah," She nodded and accepted the bag and slid it into the basket along side the bread. She would have to talk her dad into driving her over to Dick's house to drop off a loaf of it.

"Babs, I don't know. He's gotta kill some poor sap, that's all I know…Great. He just text me." Barbara raised an eyebrow at the small device pressed against her ear, as if demanding to know what it said.

"Saying?" She prodded,

"Asking what my birthstone is…" Dick whispered in a state between confusion and fright.

"November, so Topaz, right?" Barbara asked,

"Mmm hmm." Dick nodded,

"Dick, you don't think he is going to-" Barbara paused, wondering if she should ask. She had a feeling Dick knew exactly what she was thinking,

"I…I don't know." Dick whispered.

"What if he does!" Barbara squeaked, causing her father to send her a look while he pile canned soups into the basket

"I don't know." He repeated, "Barbara, I don't know what I'm going to do."

…

**Explain? **

_**It's a surprise! **_

__**I don't like surprises.**

_**Yes you do. **_

__**Not anymore. **

_**What made you change your mind? **_

__**Too many bad ones. **

_**You'll like this one. **_

__**Doubt it.**

_**I promise. **_

__**Jason**

_**Nope I'm giving you your damn surprise. **_

__**No.**

_**Come to California with me then! Plane's got another 3 hours before it gets here.**_

__**What? **

_**I have tickets!**_

** What?**

_**Come with me.**_

__**Umm…what is going on?**

_**We're taking a vacation.**_

__**Jason I can't just leave**

_**Sure you can.**_

__**Jason, no.**

_**Dick, please. **_

__**No.**

_**Ticket's on the dresser. See you in half an hour. **_

__**Jason. **

** Jason answer me damn it! **

** Jason stop ignoring me!**

** Stop!**

** I'm not going!**

** Damn it I'm not even dressed!**

** Jason answer me this instant!**

** Jason! **

** JASON**

** Be there in fifteen minutes. **

…

Jason grinned at the phone and sat back against the bench outside of the airport. This was going to be an amazing trip. His heart pounded at just the thought of being able to take Dick on a vacation, just the two of them, out to the beautiful beaches of California. His hand slipped inside of his jacket pocket and his fingers wrapped around the small velvet box, causing his heart to beat even faster. Grabbing the box from his pocket he flicked it open and looked at the contents. It was a plain silver band, with the words _'I love you, forever and always'. _He was happy with the way it had turned out. The small words were beautiful and meaningful on the inside of the ring while the top was simply breath taking, the small topaz gem lay on a small raised bed and that was surrounded by small diamonds. The ring wasn't cheap. He had to do a lot of odd jobs to get the money to pay for it, but it would all be worth it once he could put it onto Dick's finger and claim him forever.

Jason flipped the ring back just in time, as Dick text him saying that he had just arrived. Jason beamed at the message and went to go meet the man.

"Hey." Jason waved as Dick got out of the taxi. Dick scowled at him,

"What are we doing here?" He demanded, lifting his bag up from the other side of the cab. Jason smirked,

"Thought we could use a vacation instead of me going off for a job." He shrugged at offered to take Dick's bags from him, Dick raised an eyebrow at him and refused to hand them to him.

"And why did you tell me that this was a job and not a vacation?" Jason winked at the man,

"Would you have gone?" Dick gaped at him,

"Seeing as you already bought the tickets, yes I would have gone." Jason snorted and pulled Dick in for a quick hug,

"I had more fun this way. Although you're yelling hurt my feelings." Dick smacked a hand against Jason's chest.

"Shut up!" Dick scowled at him, but had to crack a smile when Jason's signature smirk was sent his way.

"I love you, babe." Jason grinned and slipped his free hand in Dick's. Sighing the other man complied as Jason began to exaggeratedly swing their hands.

"Love you too." He said half heartedly. Jason's eyebrows pulled together,

"You aren't seriously still mad?" He said in disbelief, making their swinging hands come to a stop.

"No, no." Dick muttered and pulled his hand from Jason's slipping it inside of his coat pocket.

…

Dick frowned as the plane shakily took off and felt Jason's hand slither around his own. He turned to the see the smirking Red Hood looking back at him,

"Afraid of flying?" Jason joked, Dick looked out the window and huffed a million of the worse-case-scenarios playing out in his head.

"No." He huffed, "Crashing." Jason snorted and squeezed Dick's hand,

"I'll protect you, don't worry." He laughed and began fiddling with Dick's fingers as the original Boy Wonder began fidgeting in his seat. "I promise there wont be turbulence." Dick turned and raised his eyebrow and turned in his seat to face Jason,

"And what if there is?" Dick questioned and wiggled his eyebrow at the man, Jason grinned fiendishly leaning in so his face was hardly two inches away from Dick's.

"Well, then it looks like I'll have to…" There was a loud cough next to the two as an elderly gentleman settled down in the seat next to them, Jason cleared his throat awkwardly and leaned back a bit, "It looks like I'll just have to show you how much better Green Bay is than Pittsburg!" He stammered quickly, Dick couldn't help but laugh,

"Come on, Packers got lucky!" Jason snorted at this and jabbed Dick in the chest,

"You're just mad because Rodgers is such a bad ass!" The older man chuckled a bit,

"You boys and your sports, what kiddos should be worried now-a-days is politics!" Dick looked across Jason at the squat elderly fellow. His bushy brow was raised and he was looking over his wire-framed glasses at the two as he pushed them up his large, round nose. Dick was startled as the man received a light tap on the arm from a woman across the isle.

"William, don't bore them." The woman tutted, Dick smiled at her, she looked as though she was 'William's' wife. William rolled his eyes at the woman,

"Margaret, don't sass me woman! I wasn't boring them, I was starting up a conversation!" He grumbled, Jason chuckled, and nodded at the woman,

"It's alright, I love politics." He attempted to soothe her, Dick nodded,

"Me too!" Dick chipped in flashing her a thumbs up, Margaret seemed to giggle as the two beamed at her,

"Well it looks like these two brothers might actually be interested." William snorted at this,

"Well of course they are!" He told her, "I'm an interesting individual." Margaret rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat,

"Now you boys holler if he starts to bug you. He's quite the chatter box." William waved a hand at her and turned back to the boys,

"So where are you two running from?" Dick gave him a chuckle as he leaned forward a bit in his seat,

"Life in general. Just needed a break." He informed the man. William nodded,

"A little brotherly bonding time never hurt anyone!" He agreed and Jason smiled,

"Oh, we aren't brothers. Just roommates. We go to college together and decided it was best to go on this little adventure together, seeing as Dick here was going to go on his own!" Dick nodded and laughed,

"Yeah, he decided he wanted to accompany me." He added, William rubbed his smooth chin,

"What college are you two attending?" He asked, Jason began to weave all the specific tales of him and Dick's adventures at Blüdhaven University.

…

"That was horrible." Dick mumbled as he flipped his phone out and stepped off the plane. Jason shrugged and wrapped a protective arm around Dick's shoulders,

"But there was no turbulence, and now we get our own little vacation!" He grinned at his still irritated boyfriend, "Sound good?"

"I suppose, but you have better gotten us a nice hotel!" Dick tutted Jason and poked his nose with his index finger. Jason scoffed at him and moved his arm do Dick was walking even closer to him. Dick raised an eyebrow at the sudden stiffness of his boyfriends figure. Still, he didn't question it. He knew Jason was very possessive sometimes, extremely protective too. The man often pulled stunts like this when they went into town, and it was generally for very good reason. "Jay, are you alright?" Dick hissed under his breath and just then his phone buzzed in his pocket. He flicked it out and looked at the screen: **Wally West **flashed in bright letters, he flipped open the text.

**Hey. **Was all it read. Dick pursed his lips, why did he guess he would be trying to balance Wally and Jason time during this vacation? He sighed and text back while Jason's gaze still flickered around them as they began to make their way out of the airport.

"Huh…?" Jason finally said and looked down at Dick who was giving him a concerned look.

"What's wrong? You got really tense." Jason glowered at Dick but didn't say anything right away as he flashed his gaze around again.

"There's some guys back there and I don't like the way their looking at you." He grumbled, gesturing back the group that had been following them for a while. Dick chuckled and wrapped an arm around the small of Jason's back, he always tended to forget that Dick was a super hero. He could handle himself very well.

"It's fine." Dick attempted to assure him as they continued walking. "Don't worry about them okay? Not every guy is out there to mug or rape someone, kay?" Jason's jaw unclenched just a bit at this. "This isn't Gotham, or Blüdhaven, kay?" Jason gave a small nod.

"Fine." He sighed, "Come on we still need to get a rental." Dick was then lugged towards a sign that said '**Car Rentals' **In plain bold letters. Dick humored him and followed along.

"What are we getting?" He asked, thinking Jason would probably have gone for the cheapest car that they had on the lot.

"This baby." Jason beamed as they came up on an old convertible. He smiled as he looked over its features. Now, Dick didn't know a lick about cars, but he was pretty sure this one was really old, as he took in the faded paint and the sharp edges that made up the car. Jason seemed to be in love. "I paid a lot of money to get this girl while we were here." Dick smiled at him and looked it over. He liked it. It had character to it.

"Alright, now, where are we headed?" Dick questioned as Jason began signing off for the car, Jason looked over his shoulder at him and grinned,

"You'll like it." He promised and sent him the most innocent look he could muster. Dick simply sneered at him and turned back to the car, sitting on the hood and waiting for Jason to finish up the paper work.

He turned back to his phone and the new message sign was blaring back at him. He opened it and grinned at the small font.

**Wassup? **Wally had written,

_**Just got to Cali. **_

__**Cali?! **

_**Jason planned a surprise trip. **_

__**Oh you got a fancy one. **

_**Not really. He just likes to piss me off a lot.**_

__**What? **

_**We got in a huge fight before hand over him going on a 'job' in Cali and he stormed out and then text me to meet him at the airport.**_

__**…Nice. Really classy. **Dick chuckled at this and looked up at Jason as he continued texting.

_**Yeah… **_He replied and Jason finally walked back over to him.

"Sorry." Jason laughed, and pulled Dick in close. "Papers are all signed!" He announced and then climbed into the car. Dick chuckled and clambered into the passengers side while Jason started the car. "Haha, oh yeah!" Jason cackled as the engine roared to life. Dick glanced over at him, only to see him break out into a little kid like smile. "Oh baby I'm never bringing you back!" Jason nearly sang as he rubbed his hands along the steering wheel. "Dick, this is great." Dick nodded and let Jason wrap his hand in his own.

"I'm glad you're happy." Dick nodded at him and squeezed his hand while flipping his phone out with the other.

**How'd you two get together anyway? **Wally questioned.

_**He punched me in the face. **_Dick responded, not thinking anything of it. To him, it was perfectly normal between the two, well at least prior to their dating.

**Whoa! He hits you?! **Wally demanded. Dick could almost feel the anger radiating out of the text.

_**No! That's just how he asked me out! **_Dick said frantically thinking of what Wally would have done had he believed that Jason actually beat him.

**I don't like the sound of that. **Wally seemed to fume. Dick sighed as Wally added what appeared to be an angry face at the end of the text.

"What's wrong, babe?" Jason asked, still looking out at the road.

"Oh, nothing." Dick lied and continued to text.

_**Wally, really, it's not as bad as it sounds! **_

__**Fine. Whatever. **Wally said after a few minutes pause. Dick had a feeling he had written out several, much more strongly worded text before he had sent that one.

_**Alright! Enough talking about me! How are you? **_Dick quickly changed the subject before Wally could make him feel even worse.

**Eh, **was all Wally said in return.

_**What's wrong? **_Dick replied, worried.

**Me and Art got in a fight. **

_**What?! Over what? **_

__**It's a long story. **

_**I have time. **_

__**Shouldn't you be focusing on Jason? **Dick flickered his gaze over to Jason, who was simply sitting next to him going through stations on the radio until he found one he liked,

_**He's busy. **_Dick said, in all honesty he probably should be talking to him, but he had the creeping feeling in his gut that Jason still thought he was mad at him.

**Oh. **

_**Are you going to tell me or what? **_

__**Dick, it's a really long story. **

_**Well then stop wasting time and tell me. **_

__**It was over what you just told me. **Dick blinked,

_**About what? **_

__**About you being… you know? **

_**Gay?**_

__**Yeah, that. **

_**Wally, why would you worry about that?!**_

__**Because I was mad that you told Art and not me!**

_**Well I didn't want you to freak out. **_

__**So you just didn't think to tell me?**

_**I'm sorry Wally, I know I should have told you sooner, but I just didn't want anything between us to change! **_

__**I guess.**

_**Listen, I'm really sorry Wally, but you can't stay mad at Artemis over something like this! **_

__"Dick….Dick!...Richard!" Dick's gaze flashed up to look at a very concerned looking Jason, "Come on, what's wrong?" He demanded,

"It's nothing." Dick muttered,

"Bull shit." Jason snapped. "I've been trying to get your attention for like 5 minutes."

"No, really every thing is fine." Dick put up his hands in defense.

"You don't look like that when it's nothing." Jason said pointedly, Dick huffed and turned to him

"Jason, I'm fine." Jason rolled his eyes,

"Whatever." Jason turned away and felt Dick's hand slither out of his. He frowned a bit but didn't stop him as the other man sat cross arm next to him,

"Where are we going?" Dick finally huffed after several silent moments between the two.

"Almost there." Jason informed him and pulled into the hotel parking lot. It was an enormous, beach front hotel, it was painted in neutral earthy colors, and it just seemed to blend every thing seemed to mesh and blend with the sand surrounding it. Dick raised an eyebrow at the place and then looked at Jason as if demanding how the hell he afforded a place like this. "It's a long story, so I'll just say I know a guy." Jason answered Dick's unasked question, Dick didn't say anything but Jason already knew the follow up, "and no I didn't kill anyone to get us here." Looking content Dick sat back and waited for Jason to go sign in. He leaned against the seat and closed his eyes, Jason out did himself, he really didn't need all of this, hell he didn't even need this trip, but he was humoring Jason for the time being. But the harsh feeling in his stomach that Jason was going to do something stupid on the trip kept gnawing at him no matter how much he wanted to forget it.

Jason was back momentarily and climbed into the front of the car, "And we are all set." He told Dick as he turned on the car again and began to hunt for a parking spot.

…

"Jason this is really, so amazing." Dick whispered as he sat across Jason's lap while they watched the tide come in front their room. Jason smiled at him and rested his head against his shoulder.

"I wanted to do something nice." He informed him, "I felt like, we've both been extremely stressed out lately and we deserved a little one on one time." Dick smiled and blushed slightly, "I love you." Jason said, Dick's heart clenched up in his chest and he wrestled with the right words to say,

"Yeah, you too." He muttered and blankly stared out into the restless ocean.

**Okay, I am so terribly sorry it's taken me so long! I was working at a church for a week and then I went on a three day car trip and then when we got there I found out I had no internet! So, yeah, more mass produced chapters from the car ride coming when I get home (sitting in a hotel room now) **

**But yes! **

**REVIEW, it really helps me write and try and hunt down internet to post! **

**And I know the texting is confusing in this one, hell everything is confusing right now, so any questions about any of this, just shoot me a message. **

**Till next time!**


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